KIOSK OWNERS PROTEST OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT BUILDING

11.08.11

A group of owners of kiosks gathered today outside the Government
building to protest against Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan’s decision
to shut down private stalls in the capital city.

Anahit Bakhshyan of the opposition Heritage party faction in parliament
attempted to raise the problem at the cabinet meeting on Thursday,
but Mayor Karapetyan did not allow her to speak, asking the MP not
to interrupt the discussion.

Bakshyan told the protesters after the meeting that the government
did not seem to be hailing the Mayor’s decision.

“It looks as though Yerevan were country inside a country, with Karen
Karapetyan being the president,” she said.

The protesters expressed disappointment with the results of the
discussion, complaining that that the Mayor’s office fails to propose
any program detailing specific steps for each individual case.

However, the cabinet members had said at the meeting that they
would not allow a mass shutdown and would demonstrate an individual
approach to each case to prevent a social tension. They said kiosks
would not be dismantled unless they are found to create problems for
the municipal economy.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress