11:57,
YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS. All pedestrian and vehicle entry routes and roads leading to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial will be shut down starting April 21 until April 25, police said. The move is an effort to prevent a potential outbreak of the coronavirus if people were to ignore the lockdown and attempt to visit the memorial on April 24, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
“Violating the rules will lead to legal consequences. Dear citizens, in order to avoid irreversible consequences amid the pandemic we are asking you to treat this decision with understanding,” police said in a statement.
As the traditional public commemoration events for the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24 are cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown, other events are planned to take place to pay homage to the memory of the victims of the genocide.
At 21:00 on April 23, church bells will ring and simultaneously the street lights in Yerevan and other major cities will be switched off, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office Eduard Aghajanyan said at a news conference on April 21.
“We will ask our citizens also to switch off the lights of their homes and use the mobile phone display light out of their windows to symbolize the united presence near the Eternal Flame. The luminous commemoration moment will have its symbolic response from Tsitsernakaberd, where Kamo Seyranyan and Liana Alexanyan will perform the Ari Im Sokhak song,” he said.
Starting 08:00 , citizens in Armenia can send an SMS on the 1915 number, and on 0037433191500 for citizens sending from abroad, with their names to affirm their remote participation in the commemoration. “The names of people sending the messages will be screened on the pillars of the memorial,” he said.
In addition, the Armenian Church had earlier said that all churches in the country will ring the bells at midday on April 24.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan