Over 500 attend opposition rally in Armenian capital

Arminfo
23 Mar 07

Yerevan, 23 March: Despite the ban imposed by the capital’s mayor,
over 500 people took part in a rally held by the [opposition]
Alternative movement in Yerevan’s Freedom Square.

"Today we managed to prove that no-one can prohibit free citizens of
Armenia from walking in the streets of their towns and from gathering
in Freedom Square. They wanted to ban us from gathering for the
rally, and today we won, showing the authorities that they are
powerless," said, addressing those present using a megaphone, one of
the leaders of the public-political movement Alternative and of the
Impeachment bloc, Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan is also the
editor-in-chief of the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak.

He said that the Alternative movement would continue its litigation
against Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharyan, demanding that his inaction
be recognized. "We will continue to appeal to the highest judicial
bodies so that they make as many mistakes as possible for which they
will have to answer for under the full strictness of the law. If we
fail to get the recognition of the mayor’s inaction via the courts
within a week, then we will consider, as an extreme measure, the
possibility of holding a rally outside the Matenadaran [museum] on 30
March. The reason is not that we are afraid to come to Freedom Square
again but that the next rally is a crucial one in terms of the
development, together with you, of further steps for the next couple
of months, and we have something to say," Pashinyan said.

The main leitmotif of the rally were repeated statements about victory
over the authorities, which, despite their endeavours, failed to
thwart the opposition rally.

More people took part in today’s rally than in the previous one.
[passage omitted: the mayor’s office simultaneously organized a
children’s concert in Freedom Square]

After the opposition members left Freedom Square, the organizers of
the rally staged an unforeseen march along the central streets of
Tumanyan and Abovyan, ending the event in Republic Square.

We should note that today’s rally was attended by representatives of
the opposition Republic party. The leader of the New Times party, Aram
Karapetyan, appeared for a short time and left.