The events of June 23 morning, when the police used force against the demonstrators who had blocked Baghramyan Street, won many emotional evaluations, damnations, swearwords and so on. All this criticism addressed to the police is mostly true. But we must try to look at the problem from all sides, even if it goes against the rules of populism adopted in Armenia.
Let me ask you, did the protesters have the right to block Baghramyan Street? If so, then how long: 5 hours, 10 hours, one day, 5 days, perhaps forever? What was the goal of the protesters? Did they want Serzh Sargsyan to listen to them, therefore they had come out to Baghramyan Street? Was the president refusing to listen to them? At which moment will the protesters consider that their demand is met and will break the blockade of the traffic roadway? I know that in the event of beaten people these questions do not sound nice, but life does not end in protests, and if the society really wants to fight against unreasoned hike of electricity tariff, as well as against many other vicious phenomena, then these questions need to be addressed.
Now, let’s go back to the police, who, as far as I know, constantly conducts some kind of trainings and drills on these matters, but they perhaps are of no good because when dispersing the protesters, many of the police officers behaved them like “outdoor guys” and sadists. Instead of taking the protesters out from the middle of the street, they grouped by 3-4 people attacked on individual people with multi-story sexual abuses, who were not displaying dangerous behavior, but the police did not like it for one reason or another. And this police officer without the police uniform that attacks people, for me, he is at least a hooligan, if not a more serious perpetrator.
The attitude towards the journalist and generally their coverage is a matter of a separate discussion. If you work legally and if you are doing a good work, then why do you not want your “heroic deeds” to be photographed? Why do you attack the journalists? Why do you take away the cameras and phones, smash them and so on? Your atrocities, anyway, will appear on the Internet, and in the legal language, it is called “impeding the work of the journalists,” for which you can be sued in court.
Read also
In the end, about the marasmus of the Russian media, allegedly the protests against the electricity hike are organized by the Americans. The authors of the electricity prices hike are completely in a different place. But, in general, such interpretations are not surprising as every person interprets the events as it is to his benefit: the government, the opposition, Russians, Americans…
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
