ARMENIAN OPPOSITION RALLY IN CAPITAL ENDS – WEB SITE

A1+ web site
27 Apr 04

Despite the fact that law-enforcement agencies were again seriously
prepared for today’s opposition rally and lined up a reinforced police
squad along Bagramyan Avenue, the opposition limited itself to a
rally.

The rally on Freedom Square all in all continued three hours. During
this time, the rally organizers, political figures and representatives
of the intelligentsia informed people of the latest developments
regarding the situation in Armenia, including the outcome of
opposition-authorities talks.

It was noted that no agreement had been achieved in the negotiations
and that the opposition demands remained unchanged. Taking the
opportunity, a member of the Justice bloc and leader of the Democratic
Party of Armenia, Aram Gasparovich Sarkisyan, commented publicly on
(Armenian President) Robert Kocharyan’s statement that the
opposition’s actions “reek of treachery” because while he was going to
meet the Azerbaijani president, the Armenian opposition was calling
for the change of the authorities.

“First, the meeting with the Azerbaijani president is simply a regular
meeting, which is of no particular significance. The Karabakh issue
will be resolved only when people begin to trust their president,”
Sarkisyan said.

The leader of the Justice bloc, Stepan Demirchyan, told the
demonstrators that the authorities had breached one of the opposition
conditions. The opposition demanded that the discussion of the draft
law “On the conduct of rallies, protest actions and marches” be
postponed for a while so that the opposition had an opportunity to
submit its proposals. As is known, the authorities did not meet the
opposition halfway and the draft law was put to vote in the National
Assembly and approved in its first reading.

(Passage omitted: minor details)

As for the opposition’s next steps, the authorities have to fulfil its
demands by 4 May. In the course of the rally, scheduled to start at
1800 (1100 gmt), the opposition will take a decision on their future
actions.

Opposition leaders are also planning to take an active part in
festivities on the occasion of 1 May.