On April 20, under the leadership of Hasmik Tolmajian, Ambassador of Armenia to France, Father Grigor Khachatryan, leader of the French Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coordinating Council of French Armenian Organizations (CCAF) and the Union of Armenian Warriors and Members of the Resistance Movement who fought for France (ANACRA), Hervé Marcel, president of the ‘Centrist Union’ faction representing the President of the Senate, Member of the European Parliament François-Xavier Bellamy, Paris Mayor’s deputy in charge of Remembrance and the veterans’ world, Laurence Patrice, French parliamentarians, foreign ambassadors, representatives of the Île-de-France region council, mayors and hundreds of French-Armenians and Frenchmen took part in the event.
There was a solemn procession to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony on behalf of dozens of government institutions, officials and non-governmental organizations. This is reported by Armenia’s Embassy in France.
Then, with the performance of the band of the French Armed Forces, under the anthems of Armenia and France, a ceremony of lighting the eternal flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was held by the Ambassador of Armenia in memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.
After the ceremony of lighting the fire, the attendees respected the memory of the innocent victims with a minute of silence, after which, in solidarity with the Armenian people, the song ‘Erebuni-Yerevan’ was played.
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