Rally against electricity price hike in Yerevan renewed June 24, 2015 - 12:17 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands of demonstrators protesting against electricity price hike in Armenia spent the night of June 24 at Baghramyan Avenue, with the police making no attempt to disperse the crowd. The picketers, in turn, used garbage cans to build a kind of a barricade. Show business representatives and MPs from different political parties, including the ruling Republican Party visited the scene and stood in a living wall between the protesters and police cordons in order to avoid violence. Minister of Education Armen Ashotyan later arrived at Baghramyan Avenue. Armenian law-enforcement authorities rely on parliament deputies to mediate, Chief of Police of Yerevan, Major-General Ashot Karapetyan said, according to Novosti-Armenia. "We hope that the deputies will persuade the protesters to open the driveway. We’re holding negotiations and hope to succeed," he said. Karapetyan also noted that at the moment the police are showing tolerance, but unless the Avenue is unblocked, offenders will be brought to justice. Deputy Chief of Police Hunan Poghosyan stated, in turn, that they will not intervene in protesters’ activities, as long as the rally is peaceful. At night, the protesters demanded that President Serzh Sargsyan abolish the Regulatory Commission’s decision on energy price hike. "We are not hooligans, we understand the legitimacy of our demands," a coordination group member said. In addition, the demonstrators also called for holding protests and sit-ins in all cities and villages of Armenia, following the lead of the second largest city of the republic, Gyumri, where a sit-in recently kicked off. Top stories As a result of floods in Armenia’s northern Lori and Tavush provinces, 17 bridges, including five large ones, have collapsed. David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with Stephan Schütz, Executive Partner at Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. Partner news | Viva sees growing demand for cloud services In recent years, medical institutions are starting to make use of Viva’s cloud services Turkey replacing term "Central Asia" with "Turkestan" in textbooks The Turkish Ministry of Education is replacing the term "Central Asia" with "Turkestan" in textbooks. Armenian, German presidents meet in Berlin Armenian and German Presidents Vahagn Khachaturyan and Frank-Walter Steinmeier met in Berlin. Balance of attached cards in the Idram&IDBank app From now on, users will be able to view the online balances of cards issued by ArCa system banks and attached to the app. |