Defenders of Yerevan Mashtots Park present ultimatum to government

In the Armenian capital, ecologists and public activists, campaigning in defence of the Mashtots Park against construction, have demanded from the Mayoralty and the government to make an immediate decision and start dismantling the kiosks installed in the park. Otherwise, they will intensify their protests.

On March 8, a protest action was held in the Mashtots Park: several dozens of girls pushed away the metal fence on the construction site and the police encirclement and occupied the whole territory of the building site.

The policemen, who encircled the territory, did not interfere, but immediately increased their ranks and forbade those women who stayed on the other side of the fence to join the protesters inside. For a few hours, girls-ecologists remained on duty inside the site, chanting, drumming and singing. They were joined by the MPs from the "Heritage" faction Anait Bakhshiyan and Larissa Alaverdyan, and the publicist Marine Petrosyan, the "Tert.am" reports.

The park was visited by Robert Melkonyan, the deputy boss of Yerevan police, on whose order the policemen quitted the territory, taking away barriers with them.

"Cancel the mission, quickly! There's no more sense. There's no construction, nothing, why do you stand here for nothing? Then, the construction was underway; there was a Mayor's letter asking us to ensure a smooth progress of construction," the "Armtoday" quotes the deputy police boss as saying.

After a while Mr Melkonyan gave bouquets of flowers to his policemen, ordering them to give the bouquets to the girls standing inside the site. Activists generally refused to accept flowers from the police, chanting "Dismantling!"

During the action, the ecologists announced their readiness to start a round-the-clock sitting strike. "We give the authorities the time until Tuesday (March 13, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") to start dismantling the pavilions located in the Mashtots Park," said Mariam Sukhudyan, an activist of the ecological movement.

"Should the government fail to make such decision, we'll dismantle the pavilions ourselves, clean the park and plant trees in spring," the "Panorama.am" quoted Mr Sukhudyan as saying.