Interfax: Armenian police sees no preconditions for revolution

YEREVAN. June 25 (Interfax) – The Armenian police sees no preconditions for the protests in central Yerevan to develop into a revolution, Colonel Valery Osipian, deputy head of the Yerevan police, said.

“It’s strange. What revolution or Maidan are they talking about? Of course, there are no such tendencies, there are no preconditions,” Osipian told Interfax.

“Foreign experience should not be applied to the Armenian events,” Osipian said.

“Young people have organized a protest specifically to protest the increase of electrical power tariffs. Social demand are being made in Yerevan, the demands made in other countries were political, they demanded the resignation of their administrations. There is not a single argument in favor of a tendency towards a revolution,” Osipian said.

At the same time, he reiterated that the Armenian police will not allow any illegal actions at the protest. “Any attempts will be curbed. Our people are law-abiding and the police are acting professionally and they are protecting public order. At the same time, we are calling on the participants in this illegal rally to obtain authorization to hold the rally from an authorized body [the Yerevan mayor’s office]. They will eventually realize that they need authorization,” Osipian said.

Narek Samsonian, an activist of the movement No to Robbery, has confirmed to Interfax that there are no revolution tendencies on the Bagramian Avenue in Central Yerevan, where the protest is taking place.

“Allegations of a ‘revolutionary maidan’ and things like that are absolutely inappropriate. It’s a fair riot by socially responsible citizens. If you have noticed, an overwhelming majority of the people at the rally go to work in the morning and join us in the evening to express there civil position. We believe the only fair demand is the suspension of the introduction of a new tariff on electrical power,” Samsonian said.

Large-scale protest actions protesting the increase of the tariffs on electrical power, which are organized by the civil movement No to Robbery, began in Yerevan on June 19. The movement consists primarily of young people, who deny any involvement with any political or public forces.