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MINISTER SAYS HE REACTED "ABRUPTLY", DID NOT MEAN TO INSULT ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST
News | 27.03.14 | 10:13
Photolure
Armenian Minister of Nature Protection Aram Harutyunyan says he was
provoked into overreacting in a recent altercation with environmental
activists participating in a protest action.
During the opening of a two-day international conference on mining
issues in Yerevan on Tuesday, a group of activists "invaded" the
hall where it was taking place, interrupting the event. Raising
environmental issues connected with the mining sector, the activists
offered to government ministers a glass of water that they said was
from one of polluted rivers of Armenia.
The ministers, including Harutyunyan, refused to drink it, getting
into an argument with the activists. At one point, addressing one of
the young men participating in the protest, the minister of nature
protection said: "Know your limits, boy, or I will tear off your ears
and put them in your hand".
The comment was taken as an offense and, furthermore, some activists
later said it could also be viewed as a threat of physical violence.
Commenting on the situation at a news briefing at the National Assembly
on Wednesday, Harutyunyan insisted that he was doing everything for
a normal discussion amid "personal insults, shouts and unreasonable
accusations" from activists.
He said he did not intend to insult the activist. "There was no
planned, deliberate word. I had to react so abruptly," Harutyunyan
said when asked if he was going to offer an apology.
It was not immediately clear whether the activist is going to sue
the minister or take the matter to a recently established ethics
committee dealing with cases of senior government officials.
http://armenianow.com/news/53043/armenia_minister_nature_protection_aram_harutyunya n_apology_environment_protest
News | 27.03.14 | 10:13
Photolure
Armenian Minister of Nature Protection Aram Harutyunyan says he was
provoked into overreacting in a recent altercation with environmental
activists participating in a protest action.
During the opening of a two-day international conference on mining
issues in Yerevan on Tuesday, a group of activists "invaded" the
hall where it was taking place, interrupting the event. Raising
environmental issues connected with the mining sector, the activists
offered to government ministers a glass of water that they said was
from one of polluted rivers of Armenia.
The ministers, including Harutyunyan, refused to drink it, getting
into an argument with the activists. At one point, addressing one of
the young men participating in the protest, the minister of nature
protection said: "Know your limits, boy, or I will tear off your ears
and put them in your hand".
The comment was taken as an offense and, furthermore, some activists
later said it could also be viewed as a threat of physical violence.
Commenting on the situation at a news briefing at the National Assembly
on Wednesday, Harutyunyan insisted that he was doing everything for
a normal discussion amid "personal insults, shouts and unreasonable
accusations" from activists.
He said he did not intend to insult the activist. "There was no
planned, deliberate word. I had to react so abruptly," Harutyunyan
said when asked if he was going to offer an apology.
It was not immediately clear whether the activist is going to sue
the minister or take the matter to a recently established ethics
committee dealing with cases of senior government officials.
http://armenianow.com/news/53043/armenia_minister_nature_protection_aram_harutyunya n_apology_environment_protest