Protesters in Stepanakert demand from Mayoralty to cancel increased fares

On September 25, about 50 residents of Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, came out to the building of the city administration (Mayoralty) to hold a protest action. They demanded to cancel the decision to raise fares on public transport.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Mayoralty of Stepanakert decided to increase, starting from October 1, the price of a ticket in the urban public transport from 70 to 100 drams. In doing so, the authorities promised to increase the number of bus routes, improve the quality of services, modernize the bus fleet and increase drivers' salaries. However, on September 24, the first protest action was held.

Young people delivered a letter to the Mayoralty and Suren Grigoryan, the Mayor of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, demanding to cancel the decision to increase the fares.

The main Mayoralty's violation is the fact that "the decision to raise fares on city public transport is contrary to the legislation of Nagorno-Karabakh, as it was adopted not in conformity with the procedures prescribed by the law," said the lawyer Vage Arutyunyan, one of the protestors.

He said that should the Stepanakert Mayoralty fail to annul its decision, protesters will go to court within a civil initiative.

On September 24, during talks with protesters, the Mayor Suren Grigoryan said that "the Mayoralty's decision is reasonable, since otherwise the public transport of the capital will cease to operate whatsoever after a while."