On August 13th, a march was organized in Yerevan in solidarity and support of Belarus. The participants marched from the parliament building to the government building with posters, flowers, and balloons while honoring the memory of the civilian who died during the protests in Belarus.
People in Belarus have been protesting for the past six days against the 6th reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko. Many people have been wounded and arrested as part of these protests, and one person died.
In an interview with Aravot Daily, Nancy Mkrtchyan said that she was prepared for only two people to have participated in the protests, but she was surprised to see other people waiting in front of the parliament building whom she didn’t even know. Two Belarusians also joined the march.
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Nancy Mkrtchyan
“We were chanting that we stand with Belarus, that Belarus must remain strong, and we were calling upon our friends to stay safe because we know about the atrocities that took place during these protests. Several of my friends were arrested and I have not received news from them in several days. That is the biggest violation of human rights in my opinion. I have not been able to sleep for days because of it. When I fought for my country during the revolution two years ago, I did not go through all of that to achieve a free and independent Armenia. And when we were talking to our Belarusian friends before the elections about what would happen, they could not imagine that this would be the result. We told them that as a country that has gone through a revolution and that has had many revolutionary improvements, we stand next to them regardless of the political views of our leaders. We personally expressed our solidarity,” Mkrtchyan said, adding that she believes articles about the march will inspire and strengthen her Belarusian friends.
The conditions for participating in the march were to wear masks and maintain social distancing. The police escorted the marchers and no incidents took place. “I wanted to showcase that because two years ago, we were saying that the police belong to us. I wanted to show that to my Belarusian friends. Because it is law enforcement that is violating their rights and that needs to end. We simply gathered today from a human rights perspective. We gathered to inspire them to remain strong and fight until the end.”
Ami Chichakyan
