Epress.am News from Armenia
Local police at around 9:30 pm on Wednesday night raided a central Yerevan park where activists have been protesting non-stop for a month and seized a tent belonging to them, according to the description below the video uploaded on YouTube by Ecolur NGO. Recall, activists are protesting the construction of shops in Mashtots Park, which they say is illegal and deprives the public of one of the few remaining green spaces in downtown Yerevan.
According to the Yerevan-based environmental organization and the activists camped out at the park (who posted about the news on Facebook), there was a brawl among 2–3 young men in one corner of the park, which drew the activists’ attention. Police then took advantage of the opportunity and came in droves and surrounded the sole tent that activists had pitched in the park when a few days ago they announced they would be camping overnight. Not only did police not allow activists to approach the tent, but also they pried out one of the activists who was in the tent and subsequently impounded the tent.
In a statement issued later that same night, police informed activists that the tent is at the central police division and they can pick it up anytime. Police also cautioned that placing tents or other such objects in public spaces is prohibited by law and “was tolerated by police merely to prevent the unnecessary aggravation of the situation.”
According to the statement, when the tent was being pitched police officers had warned activists that it is a violation of public order. Furthermore, according to the statement, at around 9:30 pm on Wednesday, they had told activists to dismantle the tent. “The demand was not met, after which RA Police dismantled it with its efforts,” reads the statement.
Environmental activists, in turn, issued a statement of their own, saying that police officers used brutal force against them last night. They also point out that around 9:15 pm, the number of police officers at the park swelled, which began to concern them.
“To our question what this was due to, those officials directing the police forces said that police are replacing each other [a shift change]. At the same time, they addressed us disparagingly, ‘What food and drinks you’ve gathered here — you’ve made yourself at home, eh?’ Then, at that moment, immediately to the left of Metelitsa Cafe, in the area behind the kiosks, 2–3 young men shouted loudly, so to divert our attention, and more than 100 police officers ran toward our tent, instead of determining who those were who were breaching public order, shouting and cursing at each other in a public space.
“This incident permits us, civil society subjects, to note that the RA Police resorted to the cheapest and lowest move, when staging a performance, they attacked peaceful assembly participants, whose number was far less than the number of police officers,” reads the statement issued by civic initiative “We are the owners of this city,” which is among the protestors in the park.
Activists add that the statement issued by police is arbitrary, subjective and untrue. They stress that they will continue to remain in the park until the partially constructed kiosks are demolished. Furthermore, as noted in the statement, they are appealing to the RA Prosecutor General, head of the RA Special Investigation Service and the RA Police Chief to immediately investigate and hold accountable all those police and state officials who “issued an illegal order and those who followed it” at Mashtots Park yesterday.