A1 Plus | 20:11:02 | 21-04-2004 | Politics |

RALLY STARTS

MP Shavarsh Kocharyan, who is presiding at the opposition-staged rally,
after welcoming the event participants in his opening speech, said people
had gathered here seeking decent lives in their own homeland.

Armenia could be like Latvia, if Kocharyan wasn’t Armenian president, he
said.

People Party leader Stepan Demirchyan, Robert Kocharyan’s bitter opponent
and key rival in presidential elections, commenting on ruling coalition’s
repeated calls for dialogue, said both sides of dialogue must observe the
law, however, Kocharyan proved on April 13 that he put himself above the
law.

The crowd is repeatedly chanting “Kocharyan, go away”.

Our crew on the scene says there are tens thousands of people in the square,
there is no room to swing a cat.

Armenian Sciences National Academy member Raphael Ghazaryan, whose wife and
son were among those disturbed by the police during the April 13
demonstration, said Robert Kocharyan with his vicious qualification of the
violence as “a brilliant operation” was far more ominous than the violence
itself.

Republic party leader Aram Sargssyan said the police terror raged across the
country. The only way to get rid of it is to oust current authorities from
power, he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress