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DASHNAK LEADER AT ODDS WITH ARMENIAN POLICE
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2073823.html
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 17:33 |
Armenian Revolutionary FederationHAKpoliceVahan Hovannisian
RFE/RL -- The Armenian police and a leader of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) have traded barbs over the
contentious use of force against opposition activists trying to gather
in a popular square in Yerevan.
Vahan Hovannisian, a member of the opposition party's governing
Bureau, last week publicly challenged the official justification for
the police actions against several dozen supporters of another major
opposition force, the Armenian National Congress (HAK).
Hovannisian specifically scoffed at a June 1 police statement saying
that a group of "unknown individuals ... tried to enter Liberty Square"
and had to be reined in by law-enforcement officers. He argued that
the square is an open public area which anyone can enter without an
identity check.
In a statement on Monday, the police press service accused Hovannisian
of distorting police reports on violent confrontations with young
HAK activists. It pointed to another police statement that said the
activists were not allowed into the square because they planned to
stage unsanctioned protests there.
"I am amazed that our police have become so pettish and irritable,"
Hovannisian countered on Wednesday, denying any wrongdoing.
"I am not obliged to keep all police statements under my pillow," he
told journalists. "It was clearly stated [by the police] that 'unknown
individuals, breaching public order, tried to enter Liberty Square.'
And unknown individuals do have the right to walk in our city."
"If it was said that those unknown individuals were drunk, hurled
abuse, harassed women or children and threw bottles as they tried to
enter the square, we all would see a violation of the law and agree
that the police actions were right. When that is not said, we start
thinking that the entry itself is deemed a violation."
"They should lecture not me but those who write their statements,"
added Dashnaktsutyun's former presidential candidate.
The HAK, which has a strained relationship with Dashnaktsutyun,
has repeatedly denounced the police actions in and around Liberty
Square as illegal. A group of its activists plans to stage a brief
sit-in there on Friday to demand the release of some 15 oppositionists
controversially imprisoned by the Armenian authorities. The Yerevan
municipality has refused to sanction the protest.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2073823.html
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 17:33 |
Armenian Revolutionary FederationHAKpoliceVahan Hovannisian
RFE/RL -- The Armenian police and a leader of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) have traded barbs over the
contentious use of force against opposition activists trying to gather
in a popular square in Yerevan.
Vahan Hovannisian, a member of the opposition party's governing
Bureau, last week publicly challenged the official justification for
the police actions against several dozen supporters of another major
opposition force, the Armenian National Congress (HAK).
Hovannisian specifically scoffed at a June 1 police statement saying
that a group of "unknown individuals ... tried to enter Liberty Square"
and had to be reined in by law-enforcement officers. He argued that
the square is an open public area which anyone can enter without an
identity check.
In a statement on Monday, the police press service accused Hovannisian
of distorting police reports on violent confrontations with young
HAK activists. It pointed to another police statement that said the
activists were not allowed into the square because they planned to
stage unsanctioned protests there.
"I am amazed that our police have become so pettish and irritable,"
Hovannisian countered on Wednesday, denying any wrongdoing.
"I am not obliged to keep all police statements under my pillow," he
told journalists. "It was clearly stated [by the police] that 'unknown
individuals, breaching public order, tried to enter Liberty Square.'
And unknown individuals do have the right to walk in our city."
"If it was said that those unknown individuals were drunk, hurled
abuse, harassed women or children and threw bottles as they tried to
enter the square, we all would see a violation of the law and agree
that the police actions were right. When that is not said, we start
thinking that the entry itself is deemed a violation."
"They should lecture not me but those who write their statements,"
added Dashnaktsutyun's former presidential candidate.
The HAK, which has a strained relationship with Dashnaktsutyun,
has repeatedly denounced the police actions in and around Liberty
Square as illegal. A group of its activists plans to stage a brief
sit-in there on Friday to demand the release of some 15 oppositionists
controversially imprisoned by the Armenian authorities. The Yerevan
municipality has refused to sanction the protest.
From: A. Papazian