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NEW OPERA?: ATTEMPTED RALLY AT RENOVATED FREEDOM SQUARE STOPPED BY POLICE
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
31.05.10 | 14:41
Politics
Police officers detaining an ANC representative at the Freedom Square
Six representatives of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), who had
attempted to hold a sit-in protest in the re-opened Freedom Square
(near Opera House) since Friday, on May 30 were taken into police
custody and told to make their statement anywhere in Yerevan "except
Freedom Square".
The Square has been closed for two years while an underground parking
garage was built. Oppositionists have claimed the closure of the
site was to prevent more political rallies. The opposition had used
the square as an encampment days before the deadly raid by police on
March 1, 2008 that left 10 dead, hundreds injured and dozens arrested.
Since the square opened last week, a former political prisoner Vardges
Gaspari has tried to use the popular site as a protest point demanding
the release of others arrested during the violence two years ago.
Tigran Arakelyan, who was taken to the Police Office on Sunday, and
was kept there for three hours, says that the only complaint by the
police was against the protestors holding meetings in Freedom Square.
"They [police officers] told us nothing, they only asked, begged us,
not to gather in Freedom Square. Chief of Central Police Department
Ashot Karapetyan said, "If I personally came here to take you [to
the Police Office], if I personally talked to you, it means that
everything is quite serious, it means that the order is from above,"
member of the ANC youth wing Arakelyan told ArmeniaNow.
Police refused to comment to ArmeniaNow on the matter except RA
Police Public Relations Department officer Armen Malkhasyan who said:
"If the demonstrators were taken to the Police Office, it means that
they had violated the public order."
The opposition insists that they do not violate any order, and add that
they are going to gather in Freedom Square every evening, at 6:00 p.m.
From: A. Papazian
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
31.05.10 | 14:41
Politics
Police officers detaining an ANC representative at the Freedom Square
Six representatives of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), who had
attempted to hold a sit-in protest in the re-opened Freedom Square
(near Opera House) since Friday, on May 30 were taken into police
custody and told to make their statement anywhere in Yerevan "except
Freedom Square".
The Square has been closed for two years while an underground parking
garage was built. Oppositionists have claimed the closure of the
site was to prevent more political rallies. The opposition had used
the square as an encampment days before the deadly raid by police on
March 1, 2008 that left 10 dead, hundreds injured and dozens arrested.
Since the square opened last week, a former political prisoner Vardges
Gaspari has tried to use the popular site as a protest point demanding
the release of others arrested during the violence two years ago.
Tigran Arakelyan, who was taken to the Police Office on Sunday, and
was kept there for three hours, says that the only complaint by the
police was against the protestors holding meetings in Freedom Square.
"They [police officers] told us nothing, they only asked, begged us,
not to gather in Freedom Square. Chief of Central Police Department
Ashot Karapetyan said, "If I personally came here to take you [to
the Police Office], if I personally talked to you, it means that
everything is quite serious, it means that the order is from above,"
member of the ANC youth wing Arakelyan told ArmeniaNow.
Police refused to comment to ArmeniaNow on the matter except RA
Police Public Relations Department officer Armen Malkhasyan who said:
"If the demonstrators were taken to the Police Office, it means that
they had violated the public order."
The opposition insists that they do not violate any order, and add that
they are going to gather in Freedom Square every evening, at 6:00 p.m.
From: A. Papazian