‘We Are Also in Maidan’: Yerevan Activists Show Their Support for Ukrainian Demonstrators

After the clashes in Kiev yesterday, a rally "We are also in Maidan" was organized today in Yerevan, Armenia, to express support for demonstrators in Ukraine's capital.

Yerevan supporters of Ukraine's Euromaidan today gathered at Victory Park and walked toward the Ukrainian Embassy. They carried posters that read "Putin, Go Home", "March 1 is approaching and It's the same situation in Kiev", and "The fall of Yanukovych's regime is the start of overthrowing [Armenian President] Serzhik's regime".

"We have gone through almost the same journey, which is unfolding now in the Ukraine. Six years ago citizens of Armenia who were standing up for democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms were gunned down in the streets of Yerevan. We were not able to sufficiently resist the power of the occupying regime. As a result, Armenia's autonomy and independence is in danger.

"We are calling on international democratic and civic powers and governments to employ all possible means necessary and support Ukrainian citizens. Furthermore, we are calling on international powers to demand that the Ukrainian government stop the violence it is employing against its own citizens, as a result of which three citizens of the Ukraine were killed on January 22, 2014, one of whom was the Armenian national, Samvel Nigoyan. 

"Listen to the voice of the people. This is the only guarantee for peace, freedom and prosperity. March 1st is fast approaching, and in Kiev the same situation is taking place as in Yerevan six years ago," reads the description on the Facebook event page. 

Participating in the march were civil society activists, human rights defenders, director of the Concord Center, former Minister of National Security Davit Shahnazaryan, Heritage Party representative Styopa Safaryan, human rights activist Artur Sakunts, activist and publicist Zara Hovhannisyan, and journalist Gayane Arustamyan.