A group of U.S.-based human rights organizations, Azeri community members, and at least, eight Jewish organizations will gather in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., Dec 14, to boycott a Hanukkah event sponsored in part by the government of Azerbaijan, TURAN agency reported.

The move comes just days after the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a collection of national Jewish groups, sent out an invitation announcing that it will be “celebrating religious freedom and diversity” along with the Azerbaijani Embassy, at President-elect Donald Trump’s lavish Washington hotel, and many of the guests will also be attending a White House Hanukkah party that night.

The party will take place at the Hotel’s “Presidential Ballroom,” at an estimated cost of $120,000.

But the event's location is not the only reason sparks dissent among today's protesters. As one of the organizers put it in an interview with TURAN, “it's all about the values - how a Muslim country with poor human rights records speculates Hanukkah, which is the Jewish festival of religious liberty and freedom, something that is utterly strange to Azerbaijani government and what they ate standing for...”

For Azeri community, as well as Washington-based civil rights groups, today's events will be an opportunity to draw attention to Azerbaijan's continued assault on civil society and human rights.

Azerbaijan's full-scale attack on civil society can be traced back to 2011, but was renewed with vigor this past summer prior to a referendum which extended President Ilham Aliyev's term in office and granted him unprecedented powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and call early elections, accounting to the organizers of today's protest. "Numerous journalists and activists were arrested prior to the vote. Dissent was further stifled two weeks ago when parliament approved a law outlawing online defamation of President Aliyev."

While the climate of repression persists, the Azeri government goes to great lengths to portray itself as a prosperous, Western-facing democracy; an image which masks the authoritarian truth. "We will be gathering at the Trump International Hotel during the Embassy of Azerbaijan's Hanukkah celebration to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan and respect for human rights," noted the organizers.