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ARMENIA: BUS PROTESTS GRIND ON WITH CARPOOLS AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES
EurasiaNet.org, NY
July 24 2013
July 24, 2013 - 11:43am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Tempers over a hike in transportation fares in Yerevan cooled on July
24, but a carpooling protest to support residents boycotting city
buses continues.
Meanwhile, as some observers scramble to make sense of it all, the
time-honored Caucasian pastime of conspiracy theories has begun.
The website www.FreeCar.am, however, remains very much in the here and
now. It allows car owners to provide boycotters with the routes and
schedules for shared rides, along with the models of their automobiles
and contact information. Several Armenian celebrities have been among
those car owners who are picking up and dropping off many residents
around Yerevan for free.
Meanwhile, Facebook users are joining the page "We Won't Pay 150 Drams"
[the new fare for city buses, over 35 cents] and Twitter users are
tweeting updates with the #OccBusYrvn hashtag, a non-sequitur reference
to the worldwide "Occupy" protests.
The movement also comes in the form of street rallies. Separate groups
of protesters clashed with police on July 23 near the mayor's office
and accused municipal officials of corruption.
The protest is yet another challenge for newly reelected President
Serzh Sargsyan, whose victory rival Raffi Hovannisian challenged
earlier this year with a streak of demonstrations. And it stems from
a similar cause -- many Armenians' inability to make ends meet. Over a
third of the country's population of 2.94 million people is estimated
to live beneath the poverty line.
But, of course, in the Caucasus, a bus protest cannot be just a
bus protest. In a July 23 interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service,
ruling Republican Party of Armenia Deputy Chairperson Razmik Zohrabian
posited that the boycott is the work of superpowers -- and "not only
Russia" -- interested in the question of whether Armenia will head
toward European integration or toward Russia's Eurasian Customs Union.
And to one ArmeniaNow commentator, the logic makes sense.
Conspiracy theories aside, Russia already has made one cameo appearance
in this drama, via the increased price of its natural gas.
Most Armenian buses, as well as heaters and stoves, run on natural gas,
and Russia is the main supplier of it.
"Gas is so expensive now that the police can't even afford to use
tear gas on protesters," one Yerevan resident joked dryly.
-- EurasiaNet.org correspondent Marianna Grigoryan contributed
reporting from Yerevan.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67294
EurasiaNet.org, NY
July 24 2013
July 24, 2013 - 11:43am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Tempers over a hike in transportation fares in Yerevan cooled on July
24, but a carpooling protest to support residents boycotting city
buses continues.
Meanwhile, as some observers scramble to make sense of it all, the
time-honored Caucasian pastime of conspiracy theories has begun.
The website www.FreeCar.am, however, remains very much in the here and
now. It allows car owners to provide boycotters with the routes and
schedules for shared rides, along with the models of their automobiles
and contact information. Several Armenian celebrities have been among
those car owners who are picking up and dropping off many residents
around Yerevan for free.
Meanwhile, Facebook users are joining the page "We Won't Pay 150 Drams"
[the new fare for city buses, over 35 cents] and Twitter users are
tweeting updates with the #OccBusYrvn hashtag, a non-sequitur reference
to the worldwide "Occupy" protests.
The movement also comes in the form of street rallies. Separate groups
of protesters clashed with police on July 23 near the mayor's office
and accused municipal officials of corruption.
The protest is yet another challenge for newly reelected President
Serzh Sargsyan, whose victory rival Raffi Hovannisian challenged
earlier this year with a streak of demonstrations. And it stems from
a similar cause -- many Armenians' inability to make ends meet. Over a
third of the country's population of 2.94 million people is estimated
to live beneath the poverty line.
But, of course, in the Caucasus, a bus protest cannot be just a
bus protest. In a July 23 interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service,
ruling Republican Party of Armenia Deputy Chairperson Razmik Zohrabian
posited that the boycott is the work of superpowers -- and "not only
Russia" -- interested in the question of whether Armenia will head
toward European integration or toward Russia's Eurasian Customs Union.
And to one ArmeniaNow commentator, the logic makes sense.
Conspiracy theories aside, Russia already has made one cameo appearance
in this drama, via the increased price of its natural gas.
Most Armenian buses, as well as heaters and stoves, run on natural gas,
and Russia is the main supplier of it.
"Gas is so expensive now that the police can't even afford to use
tear gas on protesters," one Yerevan resident joked dryly.
-- EurasiaNet.org correspondent Marianna Grigoryan contributed
reporting from Yerevan.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67294