Epress.am News from Armenia
Despite the cold weather, Raffi Hovannisian’s first night in Liberty Square went well.
“With the presence of people, it passed by very cordially; fellow citizens, representatives from numerous organizations came by, supported [me], this generous [act of support] was a surprise for me, since I had invited no one. In any case, there is civic consciousness, that we are confronted with a collective problem to solve and this is not one man’s struggle,” the Heritage Party leader told Epress.am this morning.
Hovannisian described how last night citizens of their own accord wanted to put up a tent and how fellow party member Larisa Alaverdyan spoke with police.
“The police didn’t want to allow it, but that’s not my issue; if the authorities through the police are not permitting this, this is not among my demands; I can also remain like this. Without any explanation, without citing any law, police didn’t allow [erecting a tent].”
The party leader said though all relevant bodies are aware of his hunger strike, no emergency workers came by to visit him — which, in Armenia, is required by law for anyone who announces a hunger strike. “I feel fine, but there’s been no such visit.”
Asked by Epress.am how long he plans to stage his hunger strike, Hovannisian said:
“As long as God gives me will and my body lasts. I will be in Liberty Square that belongs to us all, which is not only a square, it’s counsel, belonging, which is also our country’s council — it’s mine, it’s yours, it’s everyone’s. And that right, to choose, to form power [authority], the right to belong, which must be given and returned to the people, refers also to this square in terms of realizing its right to expression, to assembly and also to be Armenian,” he said.
Perhaps with a reference to Armenian National Congress leader Levon Ter-Petrossian’s recent list of demands to Armenia’s ruling authorities, the Heritage Party leader said he himself doesn’t use the means of outlining demands, which he considers might seem odd to some.
“I think that a demand is the people’s decision and that has long been decided, everyone knows that we live in a [time of] great wrong; to correct this mistake, there are emergency measures to resolve this emergency situation; everyone knows what these are; they have been spoken about. Now the question is that in this coming period whether the current authorities will undertake the path to self-sacrifice, reflecting this humble self-sacrifice of mine. And second, whether the public itself will realize that truly its fate, our collective solution is in the public’s hands and no one apart from the public can resolve it…” The problem of creating such a real civic society that is in control of its rights and is self-organized has been put forth, and future developments will show if there will be any development in these two issues. “Regardless, I will stay here as long as this mortal body of mine will allow,” he said.
