Initiative Says No to Paid Parking Because City is Considered Public Property

The civic initiative "Get Out of Our Pocket" will pursue the implementation of their demands related to the fines for traffic violations, speed sensors, and paid parking spaces, said initiative members Armen Manvelyan and Artashes Misakyan, speaking to reporters outside the government building today. 

The initiative's four main demands are to eliminate the newly introduced paid public parking spaces, to lower by five times the fines for traffic violations caught by speed sensors and CCTV cameras, to cancel the penalties accrued for failing to make payments on previously recorded violations, and to freeze the use of CCTV cameras and speed sensors for fining drivers, leaving this function to the road police until a new, acceptable procedure is adopted.

According to Manvelyan, all those decisions by the police and Yerevan City Hall, to lower from September the fine amounts caught by speed sensors, as well as making the previously free 5 minutes to free 15 minutes of parking, have nothing to do with their demands. 

Misakyan, in turn, said such moves are a temporary illusion: the only solution for them would be the removal of the red lines outlining the new paid parking spaces. 

"Why should we have to pay to park in our city? It is considered public property. The ruling authorities can talk a lot, but let us agree on this: we appointed them to serve the interests of the people," he said.  

Members of the initiative said they will present their four demands during the vehicle procession "of civil disobedience" to take place tomorrow.