“If you and your Kocharyan are so strong, come arrest me. He is not the one holding a meeting, I am.” President of the “Republic” political party Aram Sargsyan had this to say to the police officers whom the authorities had forbidden to get mixed up in “criminal debates” and only let them interfere in the debates between women selling herbs and arrest people in the middle of the night.
At the same time, police officers were arresting activists in front of the members of the political party. It was not clear as to how many people had been arrested and where they had been taken to until late at night.
One hour before the meeting, the police officers were announcing with microphones that the meeting held by the oppositionists was not known about beforehand and they were not letting people approach the steps of the Matenadaran. Despite their efforts, there were many people at the meeting yesterday too. In order to draw the world’s attention to the illegalities going on in Armenia, ten “Republic” political party activists announced that they were going to go out on a hunger strike for an unlimited time. “Instead of boycotting, the socialist-populist “Rule of Law” members, the national-populist federalists (Dashnak), the Orthodox republicans, the community and village heads, the army soldiers and the crazy person of the community all voted for the referendum,” said Levon Yeghiazaryan. However, President of the National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan called on them to stay neutral for now on behalf of the unified opposition leaders. “Now is not the time for a hunger strike. Sometimes they ask me: how come you don’t take decisive steps? I am amazed at myself and the people. The people suffered a blow on November 27. Why didn’t anybody do anything? Why didn’t the people go and destroy the ballot boxes and sue the electoral committee presidents on November 28?” said V. Manukyan and added: “They come and say let’s go close Baghramyan street. We will do that, but now is not the time. We must all be intolerant; the authorities must become a national minority slowly yet surely. I have always said that they will not give Meghri up, but now I say that they just might do that. They are capable of doing anything. Let’s forget about the elections in 2007 or 2008. We must use the time given and make them pay. If we don’t make them suffer, they will do it to us.”
The opposition leaders had met with nine ambassadors of the European Union member countries. According to Aram Sargsyan, they were disappointed about the referendum results. “The first couple of meetings began today. I have met with those ambassadors many times before, but I have never seen them so disappointed. They all agree that the results were falsified,” says A. Sargsyan. The leader of the “Republic” political party recalled the famous Chinese saying about the three responsibilities of a soldier. “A soldier must know how to use his weapon, he must know who he is going against and most importantly, he must listen to his heart. We the people are the soldiers. We must form a body which will lead us to the steps needed to be taken. We must be organized and take on some responsibilities,” said A. Sargsyan to the “soldiers” gathered at the meeting. He announced that he had met with various officials and they had assured him that they felt that their electoral committee representative was “obsessive”. “It was not beneficial for them to come up with 1.5 million voters. Three people can escape from Armenia, but there are some people, for example, Andranik Markaryan or Artur Baghdasaryan, who have nowhere to go and want to live here. They are not going to follow the person that led them to unforeseen events,” said A. Sargsyan and added that during this time, there can be change of power initiated by the authorities themselves. “But we will not let that happen, with your help. The people are the ones that have to change power.” He also announced: “The Third Republic of Armenia doesn’t exist because there is a presidential institute and the present day president has put down its reputation with his behavior, his provinciality and his boyish acts.”
Academician Rafael Ghazaryan said the following as he made some complaints as to why the opposition did not start a revolution after the 2003 presidential elections when there were 150,000 people gathered: “Unfortunately, the opposition was not unified as one at the time and they were not able to carry out the mission. Today, we need that 150,000 because now, more than ever, the opposition is unified as one and does not plan on retreating. It will take decisive steps towards victory. But in order to reach success, it must gather 150,000 people. There is still hope. The authorities are worried and have lost their ability to cheat. We must turn their worry into a state of chaos. We will not stand back from any obstacle. The opposition will lead the people, you just come. I will also lead you. I will not leave you behind, but help us.”
As for leader of the “Justice” alliance Stepan Demirchayn, he said that the false results of the referendum prove that we are living in an “illegal and criminal” country. “We owe it to all of us to put an end to this,” he said and called on establishing civility and the right to fight for the law.
The next meeting will take place next Friday at 4:00 p.m. Until then, as stated by Aram Sargsyan, the unified opposition will gather in any closed hall and form organizational groups for revolutionary actions which will lead the people towards Baghramyan street…
In addition, Aram Z. Sargsyan informed the people yesterday that the authorities have “put people in the crowd who are ready to take any provocative step. They are brainwashing the people’s minds, claiming that they will send the people back to their homes and they can’t do anything, just like they couldn’t do anything in 2003. We have formed our groups, including doctors, journalists and former police officers who will protect the people,” he said and assured the people that some authority figures have started to believe in the victory of the unified opposition.