Authorities are only concerned about creation of an imitation
democratic disguise, Armenian National Congress says

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The March 6 rally, march and several
other public events, which were organized by the Armenian National
Congress (ANC) and involved thousands of participants, passed in an
unusual atmosphere. The April 7 statement of ANK noted that for the
first time over the past two years, these events were not accompanied
by the presence of policemen, their pressure, provocations and threats
against demonstrators, and other illegal measures of inteference with
citizens’ free will. As a result, all the events took place in an
organized way, without any confrontations.

According to ANC, this posture of the authorities can have only one
explanation: a forum of the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH) was being held in Yerevan with the participation of some 400
human rights advocates from all over the world, so the authorities
decided to resort to cunning and other measures in order to conceal
the real face of the authoritarian regime from the forum participants.

"The circumstance that the authorities decided to fulfill their
constitutional duties during the forum has revealed several facts:

"Firstly, it is obvious that the authorities are only concerned about
the creation of an imitation democratic disguise, but not about their
direct duty of ensuring democratic freedoms,

Secondly, it is indisputable that the opposition and NGOs act in line
with laws and are capable of keeping public order on their own.

Thirdly, it is obvious that for two years on end the purpose of the
authorities and the police obedient to them has been not to keep
public order, but to commit provocations and persecutions to suppress
the national movement, that is, the police have always been the
violater of public order," the statement of ANC reads.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress