"The only omission on April 9, or the authorities are ready for new March 1"

On April 9, Yerevan hosted the inauguration ceremony of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. Parallel to his "inauguration" former candidate for the presidency Raffi Hovannisian's inauguration was held.

Raffi Hovhannisyan's "inauguration" ceremony was held in Freedom Square, then Raffi Hovhannisyan proposed to organize a march to the memorial complex of the Armenian Genocide and to meet again in the square on April 12. However, demonstrators protested and demanded that the march passed through Bagramyan Avenue.

Clashes between security forces and demonstrators occurred throughout the day. The voltage did not calm also in the late evening. In Armenia, memories of the events that took place exactly five years ago, after the last presidential election are still fresh. Then during clashes with police 10 people were killed and over 250 people were injured.

Armenian Police Chief, General Vladimir Gasparyan arrived at the scene. After long negotiations, the parties came to an agreement: almost two thousand protesters were allowed to go to the presidential residence.

Tension in the Liberty Square continued for several hours. Meanwhile, it turned out that Raffi Hovannisian, accompanied by Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan went to the Genocide Memorial.

Lurer.com spoke with the leader of the "Democratic Homeland" Petros Makeyan about the events of April 9.

The latter said that the only mistake on April 9 was march to Tsitsernakaberd. "At first we thought that Raffi Hovannisian is in talks with Vladimir Gasparyan, but later realized that a march was orginized, headed by Chief of Police. Later, Raffi Hovannisian said that he thought that all the people were following him, but it was technically impossible, as we did not know about the procession.

The only omission or mistake of the day was the march to Tsitsernakaberd. But in general, I think it was a big challenge for the authorities. Government, unfortunately, because of its passion for money is ready for numerous victims.

They are ready not only to repeat March 1, they can do better. Generally speaking, nothing has changed, March 1 was not a lesson for them, it is due to the fact that the perpetrators of March 1 to this day have not been punished," Petros Makeyan said.

Gayane Hambardzumyan