Robert Kocharyan: Yerevan Municipality urged political parties not to
organize processions in city center just to protect interests of
Yerevan citizens

2008-01-18 18:57:00

ArmInfo. Yerevan Municipality urged political parties not to organize
processions in the city center just to protect the interests of Yerevan
citizens, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan said at a briefing at
Yerevan Municipality, Friday.

He said the call applies, first of al, to presidential contenders. The
concern is explained by rush hours in the city streets. ‘I demanded
explanation of such a call from the city administration today and
received quite a logical answer. No one bans processions, but it is
desirable to organize them not in central streets in order not to
create problems for dozens of thousands of citizens. I demand my
security service to organize my travel inside the city not via central
streets and especially Mashtots Avenue. For instance, I go to the
Government via Demirchyan and Proshyan streets not to create
inconveniences to citizens. Let’s imagine that 9 candidates for
president organize processions from 4:30pm to 7:00pm along Sayat Nova,
Mashtots and Nalbandyan streets at least twice in a week. What will
happen to the city within these 18 days? The municipality will have to
block these streets and the dissatisfaction of citizens will be
directed just against them. There is no categorical ban on it’, the
president said.