YEREVAN, APRIL 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The March 6 rally, march and several other public events, which were organized by the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and involved thousands of participants, passed in an unusual atmosphere. The April 7 statement of ANK noted that for the first time over the past two years, these events were not accompanied by the presence of policemen, their pressure, provocations and threats against demonstrators, and other illegal measures of inteference with citizens' free will. As a result, all the events took place in an organized way, without any confrontations. According to ANC, this posture of the authorities can have only one explanation: a forum of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) was being held in Yerevan with the participation of some 400 human rights advocates from all over the world, so the authorities decided to resort to cunning and other measures in order to conceal the real face of the authoritarian regime from the forum participants. "The circumstance that the authorities decided to fulfill their constitutional duties during the forum has revealed several facts: "Firstly, it is obvious that the authorities are only concerned about the creation of an imitation democratic disguise, but not about their direct duty of ensuring democratic freedoms, Secondly, it is indisputable that the opposition and NGOs act in line with laws and are capable of keeping public order on their own. Thirdly, it is obvious that for two years on end the purpose of the authorities and the police obedient to them has been not to keep public order, but to commit provocations and persecutions to suppress the national movement, that is, the police have always been the violater of public order," the statement of ANC reads.

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