GREEN PROTEST: ACTIVISTS GATHERED TO PROTECT ‘STUDENTS PARK’
Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
Environment | 14.05.10 | 16:23

"We Are the Owners of Our City"

On Friday, May 14, activists of the "We Are the Owners of Our City"
civil campaign organized their first event against the construction
of two cafes in the area of ‘Student Park’ in Yerevan.

The park’s area has already been closed for about a month because of
ongoing construction. Participants of the ‘silent action’ with STOP
posters dressed in green, and some with gas masks, stood hand in hand
at the construction site in Abovyan Street for about 40 minutes.

In the past two weeks the members of the civil campaign have gathered
more than 16,000 signatures from Yerevan residents against the
construction of the cafes in the park’s area. Besides, more than 3,000
people joined the "We Are the Owners of Our City" group on Facebook.

Environmentalist and one of activists of the action Mariam Sukhudyan
says that dozens of trees have already been cut in the park.

"This is a public park, and it must be fully returned to the public,"
says another campaigner Karen Soghomonyan.

Last week the members of the civil campaign met Yerevan’s mayor and
at the meeting Mayor Gagik Beglaryan said that if the cafes under
construction are knocked down, the activities of the cafes’ owners,
that is to say, private companies must be suspended and they must be
compensated, because they have legal, contractual rights. The mayor
said that under current conditions, the municipality budget cannot
afford laying such a burden on its shoulders, because Yerevan has
other, more urgent problems to solve. Beglaryan also promised to
cooperate with environmentalists.

"This is a brilliant chance for Mr. Beglaryan to prove that he supports
so many people, and that he will not disappoint so many young people,"
Sukhudyan says.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress