New law requires mentioning number of rally participants
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) today submitted another application to the Yerevan Municipality to stage a rally and ensuing march in the city's Liberty Square on May 31.
A similar application was submitted with the Mayor's Office on May 11 which, according to HAK activist Tigran Arakelyan, did not comply with the provisions of the recently adopted law on freedom of assemblies.
The word "rally" has been replaced by the term "meeting" in the new law - something inadmissible for the HAK. "The new law implies that the municipality can sanction a few events in the same place at the same time. Another ridiculous demand of the law is the requirement to mention the number of participants and the list of technical means to be used during the event.
The HAK activist considers these requirements to be absurd and incomprehensible. In the application the HAK noted that the opposition is going to rally 100 000 people on May 31.
Another shortcoming of the law is that the notice will no longer be discussed with the parties; the decision will be taken by the municipality.
"The authorities assure us that they have amended the law but I see no changes. The municipality is simply given an opportunity to make arbitrary decisions. The words "sit-in," "march" are left out in the new law," said Arakelyan.
If earlier, the municipality was given 72 hours to discuss the notice, now it has 120 hours or five days.
The RA Law on conducting meetings, assemblies, rallies and demonstrations was found invalid on May 3.
