4th night of Electric Yerevan rally: rock concert, new demands, volleyball

PanARMENIAN.Net - Participants of a rally against electricity price hike spent the forth night at Yerevan’s Baghramyan Avenue. The night passed quietly, with law enforcement bodies taking no action against the demonstrators.

Thousands gathered at Baghramyan Avenue in the evening of June 25 despite storm and heavy rain. The rally coordinators brought a long plastic sheeting for the picketers to hide under, while those who did not manage to cover up, handed over their cell phones and other equipment to the sheltered protesters.

The participants brought a funeral wreath with the inscription “From the People to Robbers.”

The members of the initiative state that the protest is the constitutional right of all citizens and is completely legal. "We will not go anywhere until this issue is resolved," activist Max Sargsyan said.

Deputy Chief of Police of Armenia Valery Osipyan told reporters that some brought alcohol instead of water. After talking to Osipyan, the members of the initiative called on all the picketers not to bring alcoholic beverages, including beer to Baghramyan Avenue.

The demonstrators also warned the authorities that their patience has its limits. “We gave them plenty of time to solve the issue. We intend to take measures in the framework of law and Constitution to achieve our goal,” a member of the initiative said, according to Armenia Today.

In addition, they asked the journalists to start an investigation, as, according to some sources, the ENA has required to raise tariffs by AMD 6.2. “The authorities have turned everything upside down, which is why Bibin (Yevgeny Bibin, ENA Executive Director) did not attend any of the meetings. We ask you to check this information," a member of the initiative said.

Osipyan declared that the police had seen drunken people, as well as found bottles filled with alcohol instead of water at night, and there were also people in masks. He thanked the coordinating group for collaborating with the police, but called on them to move to the "legal field".

Representatives of the coordinating group, in turn, have been consistently calling on people not to bring alcohol to the venue and remove the masks. "We have nothing to hide," they said, urging everyone to be vigilant and closely monitor people and objects and inform the coordinating group or the police in case they see something suspicious.

At nightfall, Vordan Karmir rock bad gave a concert at the rally venue. Frontman Vahan Poghosyan said the group was to perform in one of the city pubs that day, but chose Baghramyan Avenue instead, to express their support for the protest.

Early in the morning, the picketers gathered the garbage they had left and cleaned the street. At the moment, some young people play volleyball as a morning warm-up.

Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) Company earlier submitted a bid to the Public Services Regulatory Commission about a rise in electricity tariffs. The parliamentary opposition considers the move unfounded and initiated to serve the interests of ENA. The current night-time tariff for the population is AMD 31.85 per KWH, the daytime tariff is AMD 41.85. The bid of ENA proposed raising the tariffs to AMD 48 and 58 respectively. Yet the Commission satisfied the bid only partially on June 17, with the increase set at AMD 6.93 instead of AMD 17.

The Commission’s decision will take force on August 1, 2015.