“THEY SHOULD RESIGN”: PROTEST AGAINST DRAM DEPRECIATION AND PRICE INCREASES

12.19.2014 21:09 epress.am

A group of citizens protested outside the government building against
dram depreciation and product price increases. The citizens expressed
concern that dram’s depreciation and dollar’s appreciation have shown
that Armenia, having an economy monopolized by oligarchs, has been
unable to secure the implementation of its citizens’ social rights

The protesters gathered in front of the government building formulated
a group of demands. The first being the government’s undertaking
of urgent measures until December 23 in order to bring goods and
services to their pre-crisis prices. As to what urgent measures
needed to take place, the protesters did not know. They emphasized,
“That’s not our concern, if they can’t do it, they should resign,”
explained one of the protest organizers.

The protest participants also stated that the oligarch businessmen
manipulated the dollar’s appreciation and even baselessly increased
the prices of domestically manufactured products. Talks around this
topic were interrupted when journalists flocked toward oligarch Samvel
Aleksanyan (aka Lfik Samo) who had exited the government building.

Aleksanyan did not answer any questions, entered his car and left.

The protesters also demanded a stop to Armenia’s membership process
into the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

“If we’re so dependent on Russia even before entering the EEU,
imagine what will happen after entering the union,” foresaw one of
the participants. The demonstrators also demanded that the government
recalculate the citizens’ dollar loans and ban the ruble’s speculative
transfers from Armenia to Russia and Russia to Armenia.