Principles of the invention relate to techniques for transmission of Layer 2 (L2) multicast traffic over a point to multi-point (P2MP) label switched path (LSP) within a multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. The principles of the invention include configuring circuit cross-connect (CCC) switches that transparently cross-connect L2 interfaces to a P2MP LSP within an MPLS network. The transparent cross-connections allow L2 multicast traffic to be encapsulated as MPLS packets regardless of the type of payload the L2 multicast traffic is carrying. A CCC switch may be configured within an ingress router of a P2MP LSP to cross connect an L2 interface to the P2MP LSP. CCC switches may also be configured within each egress router of the P2MP LSP to cross-connect each leaf of the P2MP LSP to one or more L2 interfaces.