The events in Saryan Street are discussed at the online “Aravot” broadcast between the Chairman of Armenia Helsinki Committee, Avetik Ishkhanyan, and the “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” newspaper journalist, Ani Gevorgyan.
Aram Abrahamyan – I would like Ani to present what had happened in a couple of words. Although, you were not covering the demonstration itself, but you had gone to the police department with the affected demonstrators. What did you see there? Whom did you communicate with? What conclusions did you come to?
Ani Gevorgyan – First, I communicated with the police in a negative sense. At the police department, violence was exerted by the police against various citizens, including me, and I got a strike on my face and a rupture of my lip, about which I have reported to the police.
A. A. – How did it happen? You came with your camera to cover the event, and then the police said, “Do not cover.”
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A. G. – I was not present at the protest on Saryan Street, but when I learned that there are citizens who were apprehended, I decided to go to the police department, because at that time the heated situation was still on, and the process of apprehension was constantly on. There were only a few citizens at the police department, as well as 3-4 journalists, who, naturally, were doing their work, they were photographing, and video recording the events. Later, the head of the police department, Artak Poghosyan and one of his deputies, Vardan Gevorgyan, came out of the police building. The latter demanded from the citizens and journalists to go away, the citizens said that they do not understand the meaning of this demand since they are just standing near the police department, they neither invade, nor perform some actions, which can be dangerous for the police. But, at that time, Gevorgyan called dozens of police officers, who formed a chain and began applying force by pushing and pulling the citizens and journalists away with the help of the live chain. Under this situation, they were not watching whether the person is an activist, a journalist, or someone else, and they are hitting in the meantime.
A. A. – Did they knew that you are a journalist?
A. G. – Of course, I had my “badge” on my bag, also I introduced myself as a journalist. In addition, I must say that many police officers over there at that time knew me personally, since I was covering a variety of such events over the years.
A. A. – What is the meaning of a peaceful protest and non-peaceful protest? A Police representative was say on this in the Facebook, how do you call it a peaceful protest, it is not a peaceful protest because they say that the police formed a chain, and 2 people tried to pass through the chain, therefore it was not a peaceful protest. What is your opinion?
Avetik Ishkhanyan – First, I would like to divide this case into 3 parts. One part has nothing to do with the police actions, the second and the third parts are associated with it. First, eventually, an active segment of citizens has decided to protest against the rise in electricity, it is their right, and they have gone to protest. A question arises here, the entity, the committee, against which they complain, why does not this entity meet the protestants and does not accept a delegation from them to listen to their complaints and give explanations and conduct negotiations. This is an indicative of inadequate attitude of authorities in Armenia against the people implementing a protest, which can result in quite sad consequences, which actually happened. Next comes the police. Ultimately, these people had come here to protest, and a couple of people wanted to go inside, it is not a closed regime facility to have a special permit, in other words, these people did not resist the police, they just wanted to go in. What are the substantiations that they do not allow citizens to enter the building of the committee, their attempt of entering is considered non-peaceful. In other words, if they want to enter a state institution, it is considered a non-peaceful protest. I see no serious reasoning here. Second, if it were, with which I do not agree, an illegal move by the demonstrators, we must consider here the degree of proportionality of using the force by the police. What I learned of what type of injuries the citizens got, how the police have pushed them away from there and apprehend to the police departments, in fact, I must say that exertion of pressure is also seen in the video recordings, the police did not apply proportionate actions here at all, even if there were disorders, although I did not see the matter of disorder there either.
Prepared by ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
“Face to Face” talk show series are released by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia. The views and analyzes found in this broadcast express the opinions of the participants, and are not approved by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, or its Board. This broadcast is made available thanks to comprehensive financial support by the Open Society Foundations-Armenia, under the mass media support program, grant No 18624.
