ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS SHOW THEIR BACKING FOR SIT-IN DEMONSTRATORS

Haykakan Zhamanak
July 29 2008
Armenia

"They visited North Avenue"

Armenia’s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and the leader of the
People’s Party of Armenia, Stepan Demirchyan, paid a surprise visit
late on 28 July to the participants of the sit-in demonstration on
North Avenue, which is in its 24th day.

Needless to say that the demonstrators were very excited about this
visit. The leaders of the Popular Movement spoke with people, asked
them how they were doing. Although Ter-Petrosyan and Demirchyan
spent only 15 minutes there, everybody noticed that they were in
high spirits. The participants of the sit-in demonstration attribute
the visit and the leaders’ good mood to the rally scheduled for
1 August, or rather to the processes that unfolded in the period
between the rally held on 4 July and the one set for 1 August, to
be more specific. In particular, it is becoming obvious that the
ground is slipping under [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan’s feet:
neither Armenian citizens here in Armenia, nor the international
community support him. Ter-Petrosyan promised to pay another visit
to North Avenue.