Lebanon: violent clashes during a demonstration of Armenians against the dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh

At least twenty people were injured on Thursday (September 28th) during violent clashes between security forces and mostly Armenian demonstrators in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in Lebanon, located in a suburb of Beirut. The crowd was protesting against the Azerbaijani army's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh last week and the announced dissolution of the self-proclaimed landlocked republic in Azerbaijan.

Lebanese Armenians clash with security forces during a protest in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in Ain Aar, September 28, 2023, to denounce Azerbaijan's reintegration of Nagorno-Karabakh. AFP - JOSEPH EID

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With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh

Thousands of people carrying Armenian and Lebanese flags gathered on Thursday afternoon, September 28, in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in Lebanon, surrounded by barbed wire and protected by large security forces.

The angry crowd chanted slogans hostile to Azerbaijan, but also to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, accusing him of being responsible for the rapid fall of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh into the hands of the Azerbaijani army. Tension quickly rose between the demonstrators and the police, who charged several times using batons and smoke bombs.

Read alsoThe Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh "will cease to exist" on January 1, 2024

A large Armenian community in Lebanon

Armenian-born MP Hagop Pakradounian, who is also the leader of Tachnag, the largest party in the Armenian diaspora, denounced the silence of the international community in the face of what he called "ethnic cleansing", practiced by Azerbaijan.

As a reminder, Lebanon has a large Armenian community consisting mainly of descendants of the survivors of the massacres perpetrated by Turkey from 1915. This community now has six deputies in a 128-member parliament and has a minister in the Lebanese government. Armenians in Lebanon have actively supported the cause of Nagorno-Karabakh for the past 30 years.

Many Lebanese volunteers fought alongside the separatists in the 1990s and 2020s, and some even lost their lives.

" READ ALSO Nagorno-Karabakh: the time of reunion for families separated by war

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  • Lebanon
  • Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Azerbaijan
  • Armenia
  • Nikol Pashinyan