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ANOTHER YEREVAN PARK BULLDOZED
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 16 2007
Police used force to ensure the destruction of yet another green area
in downtown Yerevan on Monday.
The more than three dozen fruit trees covering 200 square meters of
privatized land were bulldozed despite fierce resistance put up by
many residents of the adjacent apartment blocks.
They had for weeks stood guard over the grove to prevent the new land
owner from cutting down the trees and building a three-story structure
in their place. The police department of the city's central Kentron
district twice attempted unsuccessfully in May and June to overcome
their resistance. It succeeded only after arriving at the scene with
special police reinforcements on Monday morning. The so-called "red
berets" quickly dispersed several dozen people, among them women and
children, that gathered there.
"This is a barbaric act," said one elderly woman. "It pleased our
eyes to look at the trees. They are now gone."
"Police and red berets attacked us, shouting abuse and beating people,"
complained another local resident.
The security forces left only one tree intact as it was personally
protected by Zaruhi Postanjian, a young member of Armenia's parliament
affiliated with the opposition Zharangutyun party. "I will not budge
from here," she said after they stepped back. "We must preserve this
tree. We must not allow them to carry out these illegalities."
Later in the day, Postanjian and several other Zharangutyun
parliamentarians pressured the Armenian Ministry of Urban Development
into ordering the Kentron administration to suspend any construction
work at the site for now.
Also, Armenia's Office of Human Rights Defender, which is located
just meters away from the bulldozed park, effectively declared the
tree destruction illegal. A spokesman argued that the land owner and
police officers that helped him lacked a mandatory permission from
the Ministry of Environment.
The new property to be built there will most probably be the latest
addition to a myriad of street cafes, restaurants and other businesses
that have sprung up in virtually every Yerevan park in the last several
years. Environment protection groups estimate that the construction
boom has destroyed more than 700 hectares of public parks -- twice the
size of the green areas lost during the severe energy crisis of the
early 1990s when many residents had to cut trees to heat their homes.
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 16 2007
Police used force to ensure the destruction of yet another green area
in downtown Yerevan on Monday.
The more than three dozen fruit trees covering 200 square meters of
privatized land were bulldozed despite fierce resistance put up by
many residents of the adjacent apartment blocks.
They had for weeks stood guard over the grove to prevent the new land
owner from cutting down the trees and building a three-story structure
in their place. The police department of the city's central Kentron
district twice attempted unsuccessfully in May and June to overcome
their resistance. It succeeded only after arriving at the scene with
special police reinforcements on Monday morning. The so-called "red
berets" quickly dispersed several dozen people, among them women and
children, that gathered there.
"This is a barbaric act," said one elderly woman. "It pleased our
eyes to look at the trees. They are now gone."
"Police and red berets attacked us, shouting abuse and beating people,"
complained another local resident.
The security forces left only one tree intact as it was personally
protected by Zaruhi Postanjian, a young member of Armenia's parliament
affiliated with the opposition Zharangutyun party. "I will not budge
from here," she said after they stepped back. "We must preserve this
tree. We must not allow them to carry out these illegalities."
Later in the day, Postanjian and several other Zharangutyun
parliamentarians pressured the Armenian Ministry of Urban Development
into ordering the Kentron administration to suspend any construction
work at the site for now.
Also, Armenia's Office of Human Rights Defender, which is located
just meters away from the bulldozed park, effectively declared the
tree destruction illegal. A spokesman argued that the land owner and
police officers that helped him lacked a mandatory permission from
the Ministry of Environment.
The new property to be built there will most probably be the latest
addition to a myriad of street cafes, restaurants and other businesses
that have sprung up in virtually every Yerevan park in the last several
years. Environment protection groups estimate that the construction
boom has destroyed more than 700 hectares of public parks -- twice the
size of the green areas lost during the severe energy crisis of the
early 1990s when many residents had to cut trees to heat their homes.