Epress.am News from Armenia
Environmentalists and supporters who have been protesting for a week against what they say is unlawful construction in a public park were today confronted by police who formed a human chain around the construction, not allowing activists to come near and impede the work of construction workers.
Lieutenant Colonel Karen Movsisyan, who was supervising the police in the park today, began to explain to protestors that it’s not that they’re restricting citizens’ activities, but rather, they’re guiding the flow of people, just as they would, for example, during a hypothetical Pyunik–Barcelona football match.
Also arriving on site was Yerevan Police Chief Nerses Nazaryan (beginning from 6:11 in the video) who explained that the police received written notices from both city hall to maintain public order and the environmentalists requesting construction be stopped. The police chief said an official was to come and show the necessary papers showing the legitimacy of the construction. However, activists insist no such documents were presented to them.
One activist named Vahram (seen at 10:24 in the video) asked the police chief whether the documents have to be shown to the public or only to the police, to which Nazaryan said to everyone.
Speaking to him was opposition MP Zaruhi Postanjyan (appearing in the video at 9:17), who calmly explained that the law prohibits constructing buildings less than 5 meters from trees, and yet the structures as they stand currently are only about a half meter away from the tree line. This, she said, is already an illegal construction.