ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER HOLDING SIT-IN TO PROTEST ELECTION OUTCOME
Arminfo
16 May 07
Yerevan, 16 May: The leader of the [opposition] Impeachment bloc and
editor-in-chief of the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, Nikol Pashinyan,
started a sit-in on [Yerevan’s] Freedom Square this evening.
Pashinyan has told an Arminfo correspondent that he was protesting at
the existing state of affairs in the country, including the official
outcome of the [12 May] parliamentary election.
"I am acting not as a politician or a newspaper editor but as an
Armenian citizen. In doing so, I want to demonstrate that there are
layers in society which are unwilling to put up with what is going
on. I am aware that this is a small step but it is with small steps
that the main goal of toppling the regime of [President] Robert
Kocharyan and [Prime Minister] Serzh Sargsyan can be achieved,"
Pashinyan said.
He added that he intends to continue the strike until Friday [18 May],
the date when the opposition parties Republic and New Times and the
Impeachment bloc are to hold a rally.
Republic party leader Aram Sargsyan and his team came to Freedom
Square to express solidarity with Pashinyan.