Waving Nagorno Karabakh flags, hundreds of demonstrators rallied Friday evening in an Armenian suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut in solidarity with this separatist region beset by deadly fighting.
The demonstration was organized by Tachnak, the main party of the Armenian community established for decades in Lebanon.
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The hundreds of participants, mobilized near a church in the suburb of Bourj Hammoud, waved flags in the colors of Lebanon, Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“
Artsakh is Armenia !!!
One could read on the sign of a demonstrator, using the Armenian name of Nagorno Karabakh.
"
We are here to show them that we are wholeheartedly with them, we think of them all the time, we follow the information,
" protester Karen Dekermendjian told AFP.
"
We are not going to accept that our land is taken from us and that they violate our land
", criticizes the young photographer.
Since September 27, Armenian separatists from the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic and Azerbaijani forces have been clashing in this mountainous region, claimed by the two countries.
Some 140,000 Armenians live in Lebanon, the largest Armenian community in the Middle East with a university and schools, and traditionally represented in the Lebanese parliament and government.