Some 150 taxi drivers staged a protest action near the Government building yesterday morning. They gathered near the “circle of Tets,” in order to drive to the government building as an act of support. They were stopped by policemen and red-hats who promised to call and learn the answer to their concern. But the drivers had got no answer till 1:00. The police threatened the protesters to disperse the crowd by force but regardless of their “painstaking” efforts the action didn’t break up. The main reason for the protest was yesterday’s decision of the Ministry of Transportation to place control on taxis without yellow license plates. Private taxis were asked to stay indoors for at least a month so that the Ministry could fix taxis with license plates. The decision aroused burning indignation among private taxi drivers. Almost all of them have changed their cars and have to pay credits to banks. What is to become of us! How can we pay bank credits, pay for license plates, taximeter, etc?” complained the drivers. However during the protest the policemen also appeared in the republic square and by kicking the vehicles of the taxi drivers made them leave. The “kick taxi cars” was headed by the commander of the police forces Robert Melkonyan, nickname “Bazaz.” He is famous of controlling the protests of the Northern Avenue and beating the protesters. Remember that under an April 1 decision of the Government private taxi drivers were to change their cars and pay all taxes. Today the Government makes taxis pay another 25 000 drams for yellow registration numbers. “We hardly make both ends meet and afford our bare necessities. Perhaps the government thought that the threat of protests is gone and they decided to redress the omission.
