On Saturday the first regional meeting of the Pan-Armenian movement took place in Gyumri, which despite the pouring rain was attended by numerous people. In his long-lasting speech the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced that the real culprit of the March 1 events are neither the police nor the army but the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. “The police didn’t shoot at the people. It is Kocharyan who is trying to put the guilt of the crime on the shoulders of the policemen. I announce with most of the responsibility the police didn’t shoot at the protesters,” said Ter-Petrosyan and added that as long as there is at least one political prisoner in Armenia our people won’t go home from the streets. He stated that in near future rallies are to be held in other regions of Armenia. The next rally of the Pan-Armenian movement will take place on Friday, July 4 if as Levon Zurabyan mentioned the political prisoners are not released. If so Ter-Petrosyan will come up with a concrete agenda of starting a dialog with the government.
