IS MARCH 1 OBSTACLES?

/25/march
08:02 pm | February 25, 2010

Social

Employees of Gold World market are going to stop their strike as they
think the protest has become a subject of political speculations. The
decision is also conditioned by a rally of the Armenian National
Congress (HAK) due on March 1.

"We have nothing to do with the March 1 events. They simply want
to smear our good name though they know that the strike pursues
no political aim. We shall resume the protest after March 1," said
the employees.

Former employees of the market Rafael Antonyan and Artashes Arakelyan
who were detained yesterday and released later tried to calm down
the protesters.

Artashes Arakelyan assured his former colleagues that they would face
no tax encroachments for 15 days.

"They will stop taking stock of gold jewelry as they came to realize
that they cannot pocket public property. They will no longer treat
us the way they used to," he said.

But the protesters believed none of his words. They promised to stop
the strike after they saw the government’s decision.

"March 1 is a mere pretence under which they want to disperse the
crowd and settle the issue," said a protester.

It is already a week the employees of "Vosku Ashkharh" (Gold World)
market are on strike protesting against the recent package of tax
"reforms". They refuse to pay the 11% of their annual turnover and
want to work with fixed payment.