POLICEMEN PREVENTED HOLDING OF PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION AND TORE MAP OF ARMENIA AND ARTSAKH, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 30, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The member of "Heritage"
parliamentary faction Ms. Zarhui Postanjian sent official letters about
the October 29 crime to the Chief of the RA Police Alik Sargsyan,
RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, and the RA Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunian.

The letter reads:

"On 29 October 2009, I, Zaruhi Postanjian, and some other Armenian
citizens staged a protest against ratification of the Armenia-Turkey
protocols, outside the government building. We also intended to show
our disagreement with the idea that "the interests of the Armenian
World are different" expressed by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan at
the National Assembly the day before.

Unlike the other protest organized in the same place a week ago,
this time the illegal action of policemen consisted only in the
forming of a wall of policemen before us with the aim of preventing
the passers-by from seeing our placards. We failed to hold the second
part of the protest action which we planned to stage in front of the
presidential residence.

When the peaceful procession of about twenty demonstrators reached the
crossroads of Baghramian and Demirchian Streets, some 25 persons in
police uniform, who were led by a policeman who introduced himself as
a captain of Yerevan’s Arabkir district police unit, blocked our way.

The policemen did not know themselves under which law they were
impeding our movement. The only explanation they could provide was
that the president was holding an event and that they did consider
our movement as expedient.

We, the demonstrators, made an attempt to continue our protest action
in that place – on Baghramian Street. While we we were singing and
chanting, with placards in our hands, the policemen started pushing
us back and tore the map of Armenia and Artsakh.

I inform the officials of RA police that we just exercise our
constitutional rights. The above mentioned actions of policemen are
in violation of the respective articles of the RA Constitution and
the RA Criminal Code. One should not get into a panic because of
peaceful demonstrators and their placards and commit penal actions".