09 April 2008, 11:47
In Armenia, during inauguration of Serzh Sarkisyan police tried to disperse the mourning action
Today in Armenia, on the day of inauguration of the newly elected President Serzh Sarkisyan, friends and relatives of the casualties at night of March 1 held a rally; and the police tried to disperse it.
Elizaveta Tarvezyan, a member of the public organization of volunteers who are fighting for Nagorno-Karabakh named "Soul Trial", told in her conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that according to the Armenian tradition flowers are laid on that very place where a person has perished, be it a death from a bullet or in a road accident.
Having laid flowers, Ms Tarvezyan who was in tears like many others has added that on the part of Serzh Sarkisyan it is immoral to hold festivities in honour of his inauguration today, exactly on the 40th day after the death of innocent people.
At 2 p.m., policemen and Armenian special agents cordoned the monument to Alexander Vasnekyan, where people were laying flowers in memory of the victims, and shouting "Get away from here or you will by put behind bars either!" started forcing the crowd away from the monument, which provoked indignation of the people who were increasing in number all the time.
Soon, supporters of the opposition with portraits of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who lost the election, appeared in the crowd, and the people, already angry enough with the actions of the law enforcers, switched over from the mourning ceremony to the confrontation wave accompanied by exclamations "Levon is President!"
The supporters of the opposition assert that they will not leave the place and continue their protest action against the inauguration celebratory activities.
Meanwhile, just several hundreds meters away, in the Republic Square of Yerevan, at 8 p.m. local time, a festival of aerostats will begin. The press service of city's Mayoralty has also informed that the festival will include a concert with a laser show.
Author: Bella Ksalova, CK correspondent
