YOUTH VERSUS POLICE STATE
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05:53 pm | April 06, 2009
Politics
Today a group of young people staged a protest action in front of
the National Assembly with the posters: "We say no to police state,"
"We say no to police terror, "Attention! Human Rights are violated."
They signal concern over the draft law suggesting amendments to the
RoA Law on "Police Force."
The police didn’t let them group at the main entrance of the National
Assembly saying the protesters had no permission. The participants
had to stand aside.
Ten minutes later David Sanasaryan, assistant to MP Larissa Alaverdyan,
went up to the group. In a short while, they were back to the gates
accompanied by David Sanasaryan. This time the policemen didn’t
prevent the protesters.
Member of the "Civil National Initiative" NGO Daniel Ionissyan said
they boycott the draft law and are largely against Article 17,
18 and 19 which define the cases when a policeman can use force,
special devices or firearms.
"Regularity is upset. The bill doesn’t specify the cases when a
policeman can apply force or firearms. Item 5 of Article 18 says
a policeman can use special means at hand, including a stone or a
hammer," says Daniel Ionissyan.
The protesters marched from the National Assembly to the Opera House
distributing flyers with their demands. They promised to hold similar
protest more frequently.
Remind that the bill was passed after the first reading. According to
the disputed amendments, in order to keep public order policemen are
empowered to use special means without an order, i.e. they can open
fire, use handcuffs and dogs. A policeman can come up to a random
passer-by and check his documents.