Protests and Poetry in Front of Armenian Government Building

As every day when the government convenes for a session, there were a few protests taking place in front of the Government of Armenia building in Yerevan. This time, joining those demanding the uncovering of the deaths of soldiers serving in Armenia’s army were a number of other disgruntled people.

“During elections, Mr. Artur Baghdasaryan was promising golden mountains to his voters; he was saying, if I am elected, [providing] maintenance in the gas sector will return, because no service provides that to the people, the price of gas will decline,” said one of the protestors.

The same person asked, so what happened to the Rule of Law political party’s promises? “Until when do they have to trick the humiliated people; after receiving their portfolios, they fill their mouths with water and become silent,” he said. 

He explained that the natural gas to his apartment has been shut off, since he refuses maintenance.

“Who determined those prices, 5,700 AMD for 2 systems, around 9,000 AMD for 3 systems,” he said.

Explaining, the man said that he’s talking about the inspection checks, when it becomes evident, for example, whether there’s a gas leak or not (which he said weren’t taking place and for that reason he refuses to call the gas company for service).

“I can ensure my family’s safety better than some LLC [a limited liability company],” he said. From such robbery, he continued, ArmRosGazprom says it’s sponsoring schools in Nagorno-Karabakh, which, according to the disgruntled resident, is happening with “money stolen from the people.”

Also in front of the government building today was an older man who was reading his poetry out loud.

Here are a few lines from his poem (naturally, translated from the original Armenian):

“Masis will become proud,

The flag of the star-filled world will wave,

Here, here, what you’ve done…

“Aha, soon you’ll hanged [in the gallows], you jackals…”

At the end of his poem, the man promised that “the scoundrels fed by blood will give a response.”

In the next poem, he asks: “Where is my scientific center, who have you given it to? To Grand Candy. What a Tashir, that is…” (Tashir Group is a corporate chain owned by Samvel Karapetyan, a well-known Armenian businessman in Russia.)

A regular participant in these demonstrations, former political prisoner Vardges Gasparyan approached the poet and said that he shared his opinion.

“Certainly, share, share, you all,” the poet responded.