The Armenian Student Association of GCC ended a three-day string of commemoration events for the Armenian genocide on Wednesday with displays and videos for the students at plaza Vaquero from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
On Wednesday evening, ASA members of various colleges and universities gathered at USC to hold a candlelight vigil.

The vigil consisted of speakers, a genocide survivor, and a dance performance.

Most Armenian students were absent from school on Thursday to commemorate the genocide.

“It will be my one absence in my perfect streak of attendance,” said Nairi Chopurian, an executive member of the ASA, “but my absence will serve as a reminder to my teachers and my peers of the unforgivable and unforgettable past.”

Thousands of Armenians crowded the streets of Hollywood and the Turkish Consulate Thursday to march for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish Government and to demand justice for the 1.5 million people killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks.

An estimated 7,500 people were present in the district of Little Armenia in Hollywood for the march organized by the United Young Armenians and the Genocide Commemoration Committee walking the two-mile distance holding banners, and chanting from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

After the march, a “Protest Against Inhumanity” organized by the Armenian Youth Federation was held from 4 to 6 p.m. in front of the Turkish Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard.

“The United Nations’ convention on prevention of genocide is to punish it,” said Rostom Sarkissian, Armenian National Committee Government Relations representative of the Western Region. “You can’t punish a genocide that hasn’t been recognized.”

People marched up and down the block holding signs that read “Turkey guilty of Genocide” and “We Want Justice.”

“People are questioning why 88 years later we are still protesting the Turkish government,” said Ardashes Kassakhian, Armenian National Committee Government Relations Director for the Western Region. “The genocide is being denied actively by Turkey.”

Today thirty-one of the fifty states in the U.S have by legislation or proclamation recognized the Armenian genocide.