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FROM POLITICS BACK TO "ECOLOGY": ELECTIONS OVER, MASHTOTS SAGA CONTINUES
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
11.05.12
At their Friday press conference civil activists said they will
continue the fight.
Civic activists that have fought against construction in a Yerevan
park said at a press conference Friday that Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan, Chief Architect Narek Sargsyan, deputy chief of the Yerevan
police Robert Melkonyan and police officers Valery Osikyan and Karen
Movsisyan should be held accountable for what they view an illegal
decision to install trade facilities in the park and the police for
"using violence against and illegally detaining citizens that were
defending their constitutional rights."
Meanwhile, the standoff shifted to cyberspace as passions calmed down
on the ground.
"Elections over, reaction has started. The Mashtots park saga
continues," say some social-network activists.
Online chat exchanges speculate that after last Sunday's elections
that gave President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party a landslide
victory he will take revenge for having been forced to yield to the
demands of the protesters to have a number of pavilions dismantled
in the park in the days leading to the vote.
For three months a group of young activists conducted open-ended
protest campaigns to prevent the construction of shopping pavilions
in a downtown park off Yerevan's main Mashtots Boulevard. A month
ago they were joined by a group of leading scholars who set up ten
"dismantling brigades". Three times they made peaceful attempts to
dismantle the facilities, but they met police cordons each time. The
mayor had failed to provide legal grounds for the construction.
The latest attempt at dismantling the facilities on April 29 as well as
an ensuing brawl over the right to put up a tent in the area resulted
in clashes in which several activists and policemen suffered minor
injuries. A number of environmental activists and one member of the
"dismantling brigade" were briefly detained by police then. But most
significantly, the activists then promised to try to do it again on
May 6 - the voting day in Armenia's parliamentary elections.
On May 3 President Serzh Sargsyan accompanied by Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan made an unexpected visit to the park. In a paternal manner,
the president and leader of the ruling party, of which Margaryan
is a member, asked the young mayor to have the shops dismantled,
saying that they looked ugly. Many perceived it as a forced retreat
by Sargsyan on the eve of the elections.
By May 9 the shops had completely been dismantled, with the mayor
promising that they would not even be moved to another location and
that the owners understood the situation and would not insist on
their rights to owning those pavilions.
In a statement released on May 10, however, the police said that
after a series of measures taken by law enforcement it was decided
to institute criminal proceedings against a number of participants in
the April 29 clashes suspected of using non-life-threatening violence
against police officers.
It is noteworthy that the decision came immediately after lawmakers
from the opposition Heritage party, who in April sued the mayor's
office demanding that it justify the construction project in the park,
withdraw its lawsuit on May 9 over its becoming a moot point.
On Saturday, activists and citizens are going to mark their victory
in Mashtots Park. However, it is certain to be overshadowed by the
criminal cases against some of the campaigners. Generally, activists
say their actions were lawful and they did not break any law, while
only defending their rights as citizens.
Meanwhile, some news transpired on Friday that one of the activists
was being prosecuted for his calls related to Mashots park action
made through Facebook. The police later denied the information.
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
11.05.12
At their Friday press conference civil activists said they will
continue the fight.
Civic activists that have fought against construction in a Yerevan
park said at a press conference Friday that Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan, Chief Architect Narek Sargsyan, deputy chief of the Yerevan
police Robert Melkonyan and police officers Valery Osikyan and Karen
Movsisyan should be held accountable for what they view an illegal
decision to install trade facilities in the park and the police for
"using violence against and illegally detaining citizens that were
defending their constitutional rights."
Meanwhile, the standoff shifted to cyberspace as passions calmed down
on the ground.
"Elections over, reaction has started. The Mashtots park saga
continues," say some social-network activists.
Online chat exchanges speculate that after last Sunday's elections
that gave President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party a landslide
victory he will take revenge for having been forced to yield to the
demands of the protesters to have a number of pavilions dismantled
in the park in the days leading to the vote.
For three months a group of young activists conducted open-ended
protest campaigns to prevent the construction of shopping pavilions
in a downtown park off Yerevan's main Mashtots Boulevard. A month
ago they were joined by a group of leading scholars who set up ten
"dismantling brigades". Three times they made peaceful attempts to
dismantle the facilities, but they met police cordons each time. The
mayor had failed to provide legal grounds for the construction.
The latest attempt at dismantling the facilities on April 29 as well as
an ensuing brawl over the right to put up a tent in the area resulted
in clashes in which several activists and policemen suffered minor
injuries. A number of environmental activists and one member of the
"dismantling brigade" were briefly detained by police then. But most
significantly, the activists then promised to try to do it again on
May 6 - the voting day in Armenia's parliamentary elections.
On May 3 President Serzh Sargsyan accompanied by Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan made an unexpected visit to the park. In a paternal manner,
the president and leader of the ruling party, of which Margaryan
is a member, asked the young mayor to have the shops dismantled,
saying that they looked ugly. Many perceived it as a forced retreat
by Sargsyan on the eve of the elections.
By May 9 the shops had completely been dismantled, with the mayor
promising that they would not even be moved to another location and
that the owners understood the situation and would not insist on
their rights to owning those pavilions.
In a statement released on May 10, however, the police said that
after a series of measures taken by law enforcement it was decided
to institute criminal proceedings against a number of participants in
the April 29 clashes suspected of using non-life-threatening violence
against police officers.
It is noteworthy that the decision came immediately after lawmakers
from the opposition Heritage party, who in April sued the mayor's
office demanding that it justify the construction project in the park,
withdraw its lawsuit on May 9 over its becoming a moot point.
On Saturday, activists and citizens are going to mark their victory
in Mashtots Park. However, it is certain to be overshadowed by the
criminal cases against some of the campaigners. Generally, activists
say their actions were lawful and they did not break any law, while
only defending their rights as citizens.
Meanwhile, some news transpired on Friday that one of the activists
was being prosecuted for his calls related to Mashots park action
made through Facebook. The police later denied the information.