Yerevan hosts protest action against removal of kiosks into park

The capital of Armenia hosted a protest action against the transfer of the demolished kiosks from Abovyan Street to the territory of the park, located in the area of Mashtots Avenue.

The Civil Initiative "We are owners of this city" and the Public and Civil Initiative "Our City" were the initiators of the protest action.

According to the organizers of the protest action, construction of new kiosks in the park has no legal grounds. The protesters urged the authorities to stop construction in the green zone and find an alternative to the decision.

In August 2011, the Yerevan Mayoralty adopted the decision to reduce the number of pavilions and stalls and other temporary structures, located in the capital's streets. The process of demolition caused a wave of protest of the stalls' owners. On August 13, 2011, at the meeting at the Mayoralty of the Armenian capital between officials and entrepreneurs, it became known that the Yerevan authorities are ready to provide the owners of the stalls to be demolished with pavilions in another part of the city, decorated in accordance with all rules.

"We were all glad, when they began to demolish illegal structures in one of the central streets of Yerevan, in Abovyan Street," says Armenak Dovlatyan, a participant of the protest action. "However, no one could imagine that they will transfer those structures from one street to another and deprive the capital's residents of their place for rest."