RALLY CRY OR CRYING “FOUL”?: OPPOSITION AWAITS CITY HALL DECISION

POLITICS | 16.02.15 | 15:07

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

If Yerevan City Hall denies Armenia’s political opposition a rally
permit, the decision will be politically-motivated, Heritage Party
representative Armen Martirosyan told ArmeniaNow.

Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan has called an “urgent”
rally for Friday.

Heritage, Prosperous Armenia (PAP) and Armenian National Congress (ANC)
parties on Monday notified Yerevan authorities and the police that
on February 20 they will hold an emergency rally in Freedom Square.

According to Martirosyan, the term emergency was selected because in
the law about “Freedom of rallies” notification can be sent less than
seven days in advance only in case of emergency rallies.

“The law also says that the situation must be such that it is
impossible to postpone and it must be discussed immediately, and
indeed, important events are taking place these days in our country
and we must discuss it with the people.”

The decision about holding an emergency rally was made by the troika
on Sunday referring to the law on “Freedom of Rallies”; the second
point of Article 26 says “urgent” is a rally which is organized in
order to immediately react to a situation, otherwise that purpose is
impossible to be achieved if the notification deadline is met.

The second point of Article 27 of the same law defines that the
organizer of the rally has to keep the authorized body and the police
aware of all the activities taken toward the rally in advance.

“The decision to accept the notification of the rally is exceptionally
in the legal dimension. And if the City Hall does not accept it,
it will be a direct persecution against the opposition, carried
out by executive tools which is illegal and anti-constitutional,”
Martirosyan said.

Yerevan City Hall posts its decisions about rallies on its website
where there is still no information about Friday’s rally.