On July 14, the employees of the “Multi Tabak” factory operating as part of the “Multi Group” concern held a protest in the Kotayk region against the decision of the law enforcement agencies to close the enterprise. The participants of the action emphasized that the entire collective of 130 people was left without work, and the production process has been forcibly suspended for the ninth day, due to which people were deprived of the opportunity to support their families.

One of the participants who has been working there for almost four years since the opening of the factory expressed deep indignation regarding the actions of the authorities. “We are not going to retreat. The government illegally closed our enterprise, leaving 15 thousand people without work. It is the first time in four years that the doors of the factory are closed in front of me. At the time when the prime minister is touring the country and taking selfies, thousands of people lose their jobs. Do the authorities want us to simply despair and emigrate from this country? This government has reached our throats, which closed sports complexes before important championships and paralyzed 70 enterprises. If the state bodies have questions, let them conduct inspections, but allow us to work in parallel.” He also added that the security forces do not even allow the employees to take their personal belongings from the sealed building.

Let’s remind that large-scale searches of the private house and businesses of the leader of the “Prosperous Armenia” party Gagik Tsarukyan began on July 6, after which he was arrested and detained in the case of fraud and money laundering committed in 2022-2024. In the following days, on July 13 and 14, employees of several closed enterprises of Tsarukyan: “Multi Stone” stone processing plant, “Multi Grand” hotel, “Ararat” cognac-wine-vodka combine and “Multi Tabak” factory held protests in Yerevan and Abovyan, demanding the authorities to unblock the business and not deprive them. from livelihood.

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