AUTHORITIES CANCEL OPPOSITION RALLY OVER SECURITY REASONS
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 12 2008
Russia
Armenian President Robert Kocharian has described as "provocative"
Levon Ter-Petrosian’s announcement that a rally will be held
immediately after the state of emergency is lifted.
"If we give the go-ahead to a rally, people who participated in the
unrest and clashed with police and representatives of law enforcement
agencies will gather in one spot. I cannot imagine how they will
deal with each other. Repeating the same steps again would be a
provocation," the president told journalists on Wednesday.
Rallies should be avoided for some time, a pause is needed and the
level of polarization in society should be reduced, he said.
"Maybe, some will welcome clashes and new victims, as this would
provide a pretext for publications in foreign newspapers. But the
authorities will not allow this, the more so since Article 43 of the
Constitution gives us all legal grounds for that. I would ask citizens
to refrain from joining rallies," Kocharian said.
Earlier, Armenia’s first President Ter-Petrosian claimed that the
authorities had denied him permission to stage a rally on Freedom
Square on March 21 for security reasons.
Ter-Petrosian also said that the opposition was denied permission to
rally in Echmiadzin.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2008/03/14/authorities-cancel-opposition-rally-over-security-reasons/
