Azernews.Az

By Akbar Mammadov

Influential Jewish organizations in the United States and the world - The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SVM), the Los Angeles offices of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Israeli-American Council (IAC) – have condemned hate crimes committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis during a protest held outside of the Azerbaijani Consulate in Los Angeles on July 21.

The Israeli-American Council, uniting 250,000 Israeli-Americans, shared a post on its Facebook page on July 27, condemning violence against Azerbaijanis.

“We must maintain a safe and secured freedom of speech and assembly in this country. Violence against peaceful protesters is a threat to our society and the foundations of our democracy. It is unacceptable that several Azeri community members were assaulted at a demonstration outside the Consulate General of Azerbaijan. We wish the victims full and speedy recovery and we have full confidence in our law enforcement to complete the investigation and act firmly based on its results,” said the IAC.

Earlier, on July 25, the American Jewish Committee also condemned and called Armenian attacks on Azerbaijanis as a hate crime. Urging the Los-Angeles Police Department to investigate the assaults against Azerbaijanis, the committee said:

“It is unacceptable that several Azeri community members were violently assaulted at Tuesday’s demonstration outside the Consulate General of Azerbaijan. Freedom of speech and assembly are sacrosanct, and violence against peaceful counter-protesters is a threat to American values and civil society. We urge LAPD to investigate these assaults fully and, if appropriate, file the hate crime charges. We send our heartfelt prayers to the victims for their speedy recovery.”

On July 24, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SVM) with 400,000 members, also tweeted a threat for condemning attacks against Azerbaijanis and urged the LAPD to investigate assaults.

“Shocking and disturbing. LA home to people with ties to all nations including Armenia and Azerbaijan. LA should be a place of reconciliation, not mob violence outside a consulate. Freedom to protest is a basic right but never a license for violence. LAPD HQ right to investigate hate crime that sent Azerbaijanis to hospital.”

It should be noted that on July 21, a group of Azerbaijanis came under the attack of thousands of Armenian nationalists during a protest held outside of the building of the Consulate General of Azerbaijan. As a result, seven Azerbaijanis, including a woman, were injured and four of them were hospitalized. In addition, a police officer of Los-Angeles Police Department trying to protect the Azerbaijani woman from Armenian attackers received the head injury.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

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