Anti-impeachment protesters, Rep. Adam Schiff clash at Glendale event celebrating passage of Armenian genocide bill

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- A heated confrontation erupted Saturday when anti-impeachment protesters disrupted an event in Glendale featuring Congressman Adam Schiff.

Rep. Schiff was speaking at a town hall celebrating the recent passage of a bipartisan bill he co-authored recognizing mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide.

Shortly after he took the podium, a group of protesters started shouting and calling him a liar. Schiff shared his thoughts on the latest developments in the impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

Organizers of the event tried to calm them down but police eventually removed the demonstrators from the room. No arrests were made.

Schiff said the incident was a "shame" adding that it was disrespectful to the community and the memory of those that were lost during the now recognized genocide.

"People have a right to pick at me. If they want to pick at me, they should pick at me but they shouldn't show disrespect at a community event like that that wasn't about me," he said.

In a statement, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region, which organized the event, said the following: "What made the act that much more egregious was that descendants of Genocide survivors happened to be in the room, many of them elderly, who had waited for the passage of such a bill their entire lives and had come to the event to express their gratitude to all those who championed this cause over a period of decades."

It added that such an issue "transcends partisan politics."