“Often, it is talked and even speculated that the peaceful gathering disturbs others’ comfort, obstructs the traffic disruption and so on and so forth. All of this is also explained by the interpretations of the right of peaceful assemblies, including a number of precedents of the European Court of Human Rights that certainly the rights of others are broke, but importantly that the right to make the voice of the protesters hit the target, in this case, is a higher priority than the rights of the others. This is a very important provision, – so commented the Chairman of the Armenia Helsinki Committee, Avetik Ishkhanyan, in the interview with Aravot.am, referring to the dispersing of the protesters by the police from Baghramyan Avenue.
He adds, “Of course, these international provisions also regulate the time for holding assemblies, which cannot be endless. But the most important provision is also the fact that regardless of the nature of the assembly, if it is peaceful, the police have no right to interfere, this is one of the most important provisions.” Mr. Ishkhanyan, talking about the ways of dispersing the protesters by the police, says that although a force was applied, but there was no violence. “The use of force was not excessive, it was pretty polite. As for the legality, there is something to be disputed here: the assembly was peaceful, and the police dispersed.” Mr. Ishkhanyan represents his subjective opinion: the police would not disperse the assembly if there were at least five hundred people there.
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The Chairman of the human rights organization also notes that it is wrong when a deadline to the sit-in is discussed; he believes that setting a deadline, in this case, is wrong. “They have put a question, and it is not an illegal question, it is a part of the demand of ordinary rights. There is no time problem here, – he says and adds, – There is another problem here. The organizers though were young, on the one hand, they did not have enough experience to make decisions and take on responsibility. On the other hand, the impatience of our society that they urgently want specific actions and urgently reach the goal. These two entered into conflict with each other.”
Avetik Ishkhanyan notes that in any case, this movement against the electricity price hike gave a very positive result. “We should not say that the movement was put down or the movement defeated, no. The movement showed that youth has its own power and can stand up against any injustice. This can be considered a little pause and pass to the next step,” he says. To our question of whether the police actions as of today to disperse the sit-in and open up Baghramyan Avenue will deserve the criticism and estimations by the human rights activists, Mr. Ishkhanyan replied, “Tomorrow, probably a report will be published. Throughout the course, we have made observations regarding these assemblies. You will see the opinion of our organization in this report.”
Hripsime HOVHANNISYAN
