In Yerevan, entrepreneurs protest against authorities' decision to demolish stalls

At today's meeting, the Council of Elders of the Yerevan City Mayoralty decided to demolish stalls and booths in the city; however, no land plots will be granted for new stalls.

It is planned that, for a while, not all the stalls will be demolished. According to Shushan Sardaryan, Press Secretary of the Mayor of Yerevan, only those stalls, which contracts on land lease have expired or which work illegally, will be dismantled. Only newsstands will continue to operate. Pavilions and booths, located in the courtyards, will also be not demolished.

The city authorities' decision has already caused discontent of hundreds of Yerevan citizens, owners of the stalls. During several days they conduct protest rallies near the Mayoralty's building. In particular, the protesters express their indignation that they had not been warned about the planned dismantling in advance.

Albert Bagdasaryan, the owner of a small grocery stall in a central street of Yerevan, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that if the government's decision would come into force and the dismantling would start, dozens thousands of people would be left without livelihoods. "It turns out that the President points at the need of developing small and medium-sized businesses, but in reality quite different thing occurs – the small businesses are being totally destroyed," says Albert Bagdasaryan.

Suren Markaryan, the owner of the pavilion selling fruits and vegetables, agrees with him. "I believe that this is done to ensure that all people go to supermarkets, which belong to our oligarchs," the entrepreneur says.

The owners of stalls expressed their willingness to modernize their trading facilities to conform to urban planning regulations. The entrepreneurs appealed to the Mayoralty of Yerevan with this proposal; however, they have not received a response yet.