Activist: Serzh Sargsyan simply did not want to talk to us (video)
20.00 Deputy Chief of the Yerevan Police Valeri Ospiyan returned to inform the group that the working day had finished and no one would come out to talk to them. One of the activists said since ‘they support and share the political views of the political prisoners who remain behind bars for their political views they demand that the police arrest them and put in the same cell with the political prisoners.’ The participants said they would continue the protest but next time it would not be ‘a peaceful’ action. In reply, Osipyan said he saw some threat in the words. “You can gather thousands here, but you cannot change our approach,” he said. “Serzh Sargsyan’s working day never ends, international practice says it. He simply did not want to listen to us,”said Mikael Ghazaryan, one of the activists. 19.00 Police in Yerevan do not allow a group of citizens to stage a protest action outside the Presidential Palace in support of the jailed civil activist Gevorg Safaryan. Police officers have stopped the group near the British Embassy in Yerevan, disallowing them to approach the Presidential Compund at 26 Baghramyan. Valeri Osipyan, Deputy Chief of the Yerevan Police, advised the group to continue the action on the opposite pavement, at the same time expressing his readiness to accompany their delegate to the Presidential Palace to present their demand. “You are impeding the free movement of people. You can continue your action within a reasonable distance,” Osipyan said. “Perhaps it is the president who is not sitting in the right place and is hindering free movement of citizens,” said a citizen. 18:50 A group of citizens are now heading to the Presidential Palace at 26 Baghramyan to call his attention to the jailed civil activists. They are going to tell Serzh Sargsyan to send them to prison with the civil activists.
