Epress.am News from Armenia
The ruling authorities are not only losing their composure, but also revealing their panic on several occasions, reads a statement issued by the Armenian National Congress (HAK) yesterday.
“On Mar. 3, the altogether two dozen vendors who had come outside the government building for a peaceful demonstration for their rights were attacked by triple the number of police officers. Similar violence was applied also on the citizens protesting outside the National Assembly. Taken to police central division was [HAK activist] Vardges Gaspari. In addition, this flagrant violation of the Constitution and the law was carried out by the leadership of high-ranking police officials, defying even the presence of National Assembly’s Heritage Party faction’s members, MPs Anahit Bakhshyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan and Armen Martirosyan. Moreover, they [the MPs] too became targets of attack and use of force,” reads the statement.
The opposition group declared its support for and solidarity with all citizens fighting for their rights and MPs supporting this struggle.
“The [Armenian National] Congress condemns this next [round of] brutality resulting from the authorities’ weakness and announces all those who violate the law, beginning from those who carry it out and ending with those who give the orders will answer before the law. Police officers do not have the right to assault any citizen. When an officer raises its hand on [i.e. assaults] a Member of Parliament, this is a new type of manifestation of the authoritarian state, evidence of the authorities’ disgrace and non-existence. The authorities, through such behavior, turn the state into a scum-state. If the National Assembly does not give an appropriate assessment of what happened and does not take action for all the guilty police officers to be punished, then it accepts that it, with its entire team, deserves such treatment,” the statement concludes.