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ARMENIA: POLICE BLOCK BUS ACTIVISTS' TENT PROTEST
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 2 2013
August 2, 2013 - 10:36am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
The recent rage against higher bus fares in Yerevan may have concluded
in protesters' favor, but a struggle against the man who raised those
fares, Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian, is proving a bumpier campaign.
Clashes between police and protesters broke out in downtown Yerevan
on August 1 when demonstrators tried to pitch tents in front of the
mayor's office.
Police claimed that that requires a permit from the mayor's office.
Several demonstrators were arrested and released later on the same day.
The series of protests began in the wake of a boycott of public
transportation in the Armenian capital after the city government
raised fares. Mayor Markarian was forced to decrease the prices,
after Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, for one, commented favorably
on demonstrators' campaign, but the protesters continue to accuse
the municipality of mismanagement of the city transportation system
and have demanded the resignation of municipal officials. Mayor
Markarian's offer to overhaul the public conveyance system has been
dismissed by protesters.
Yerevan's experience with camp-out protests is not always a happy
one. While Barevolution (Hello Revolution) hunger-strikers and
supporters managed it after this year's presidential vote without
negative consequences, in 2008, clashes between police and supporters
of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian protesting election results led
to the deaths of ten people, a memory that has dogged the rule of
President Serzh Sargsyan.
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 2 2013
August 2, 2013 - 10:36am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
The recent rage against higher bus fares in Yerevan may have concluded
in protesters' favor, but a struggle against the man who raised those
fares, Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian, is proving a bumpier campaign.
Clashes between police and protesters broke out in downtown Yerevan
on August 1 when demonstrators tried to pitch tents in front of the
mayor's office.
Police claimed that that requires a permit from the mayor's office.
Several demonstrators were arrested and released later on the same day.
The series of protests began in the wake of a boycott of public
transportation in the Armenian capital after the city government
raised fares. Mayor Markarian was forced to decrease the prices,
after Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, for one, commented favorably
on demonstrators' campaign, but the protesters continue to accuse
the municipality of mismanagement of the city transportation system
and have demanded the resignation of municipal officials. Mayor
Markarian's offer to overhaul the public conveyance system has been
dismissed by protesters.
Yerevan's experience with camp-out protests is not always a happy
one. While Barevolution (Hello Revolution) hunger-strikers and
supporters managed it after this year's presidential vote without
negative consequences, in 2008, clashes between police and supporters
of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian protesting election results led
to the deaths of ten people, a memory that has dogged the rule of
President Serzh Sargsyan.