Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Armenian Rainbow Coalition (London) represents Armenians at Stonewall Meeting
by Ara Sarafian, Armenian News Network / Groong - February 4, 2001
Posted: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 01:13 am CST

LONDON, UK

The Armenian Community was invited to participate at a special commemorative meeting for Holocaust Memorial Day, on Thursday, 25 January 2001, outside the Admiral Duncan pub (Old Compton St, Soho, London). The event was organised by Stonewall, the gay rights organisation, at the site of a recent neo-Nazi nail-bombing outrage. Several speakers spoke against prejudice and racism. Trude Levi, a 75 year old Holocaust survivor stood out, as she recounted her experiences as a Hungarian Jew during the Holocaust, and went on to remember the Armenian victims of 1915 and the recent genocide in Rwanda. Among the speakers was Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London.

Seven participants were invited to come forward to read from the Holocaust Memorial Day Statement of Commitment and to light a candle of remembrance. Vasken Tavitian of the Armenian Rainbow Coalition (London) read Statement No 3 promising to ensure "that future generations understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences," vowing "to remember the victims of Nazi persecution and of all genocide."

A number of individuals from various organisations voiced their disbelief that the Armenian victims of genocide had been left out of the official commemoration on the 27th. Mr. Tavitian thanked Trudi for her remembrance of the victims of the Armenian genocide and told her that he was the grandson of survivors.

Ara Sarafian, an adviser to the Committee for the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (CRAG), thanked Vasken Tavitian and the Armenian Rainbow Coalition (London) for representing the Armenian community of Great Britain.

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