Authorities are only concerned about creation of an
imitation democratic disguise, Armenian National Congress says
09-04-2010 17:00:00 | Armenia | Politics
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.