Police tried to stop groups of young people publicizing the Armenian
opposition’s upcoming rally in Yerevan for the second consecutive day on
Wednesday, ignoring criticism from the country’s human rights ombudsman.

The main opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) assigned its young
activists to march through the city center and urge citizens to attend the
demonstration scheduled for Friday.

About 30 of them were forcibly dispersed by riot police late on Tuesday despite
keeping to the sidewalks and not interfering with street traffic. Colonel Robert
Melkonian, chief of the Patrol Service of the Armenian police present at the
scene, told organizers that the march is illegal because its participants are
chanting slogans that “discredit the state.”

“At first our negotiations with the police were normal in the sense that they
were simply forbidding us from taking any actions,” one of the organizers,
Vladimir Karapetian, told RFE/RL after the scuffle. “But then they called in a
special police unit that rudely jostled and dispersed us.”

The human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, was quick to send his
representatives to the scene. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Harutiunian’s
office criticized the police and urged law-enforcement bodies to “act in
accordance with the constitution and laws.” Under one of those laws, public
gatherings attended by less than 100 persons do not have to be sanctioned by
municipal authorities.

A similar incident occurred later on Wednesday when the police confronted
another group of HAK supporters silently marching elsewhere in downtown Yerevan.
Armen Hambartsumian, an organizer of the action, said police officers allowed
the activists to continue the march after they promised not to chant any
slogans. He said they also demanded that the marchers take off T-shirts with
pictures of imprisoned opposition members emblazoned on them. “The police
behaved better today,” Hambartsumian told RFE/RL.

Hambarstumian was briefly detained just hours later as the police attempted to
disperse more than 100 opposition supporters gathering in Yerevan’s Northern
Avenue on a daily basis. The standoff was still not over as of 9 p.m. local
time.

The HAK said last week that Friday’s rally, sanctioned by the authorities, will
mark a “turning out” in the opposition’s year-long struggle against the
government. The alliance said its top leader, Levon Ter-Petrosian, will unveil
his new political strategy and make “very important revelations” in his speech.

By Ruben Meloyan