Protesters March On LA Times Over Coverage And 'Disinformation' Of Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

Hundreds of Armenian protesters took to the streets in El Segundo, California, as the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region continued to escalate. The protesters specifically went after the Los Angeles Times for its coverage of the conflict and accused the outlet of spreading 'disinformation' about it.

The latest protest took place outside the LA Times’ headquarters in El Segundo Tuesday after the outlet published its latest article about the conflict on Monday. Police said the protests shut down multiple roads leading to and from the LA Times offices. It started around 6 p.m. Tuesday and continued for most of the night, slowly breaking up after 12 a.m. No violence or arrests were reported during the protests.

Protests took place for most of the weekend in and around Los Angeles as the city’s Armenian population took to the streets with supporters. Most protests were situated outside news outlets as protesters demanded increased coverage of the conflict.

“Azerbaijan and Turkey has started a completely unprovoked war,” protester Natalie Samargian told reporters during Saturday’s protest. “This is, again, a genocide because when you have civilians involved, when you have human life, when they are not fighters and they are not soldiers, you are discussing a massacre.”

Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory resumed on Sept. 27 as both sides accused the other of attacking civilians and military posts. Both sides said they suffered military and civilian casualties, but did not report how many people were killed. Tensions have continued to escalate since then as fighting erupts all over the region as its largely Armenia population looks to gain either full sovereignty or join Armenia.

Monday’s article by the LA Times, in particular contained a quote from Azerbaijan consul general Nasimi Aghayev, who was critical of Armenia for sharing what he described as “white supremacist propaganda.”

“The racist and white supremacist propaganda promoted by Armenia and their allies, with which they intend to cash in on the already divisive environment and Islamophobic prejudices, must be condemned by everyone who believe that such dangerous bigotry and intolerance have no place in Europe, U.S., or anywhere else,” Aghayev told the LA Times.

This was the spark for Tuesday’s protest outside the LA Times building where the crowd was heard yelling “shame on the LA Times.”

“The tone of the conversation in that article was shocking and unacceptable,” UCLA student Nshan Blikian told the LA Times on Tuesday. “How was that allowed by the editors?”