Armenia: Not a "Revolution of Outlets", but a Social Protest

• 06.25.2015, 14:12
•  Armenia

It is already the fifth day that the protests in Armenia against the increase in electricity tariffs continue. Now Baghramyan Avenue is not so crowded, as many hardly tolerate the heat, which one feels in Yerevan from the early morning. But, as it was the case yesterday, it is expected that the number of protesters will grow by the evening.

It should be noted once again that the initiative "No robbery" is exclusively peaceful in nature. The night before, the organizers said: "People with knives, stones, bottles, go away, you and we are not on the same way! We are holding a peaceful action"! They also stated that the police could easily "take" those people.

The Armenian police chief Vladimir Gasparyan visited Baghramyan Avenue last night to check the work of the police employees. He stressed that the police did not take any action against the protestors.

Social protest of Armenians is mainly described in the foreign media as the beginning of the Armenian Revolution, or the so-called Maidan. Russian mass media, in particular, qualified what was happening in Yerevan as "The revolution of outlets" or "Electromaydan".

But it should be noted that Armenian-Russian relations is not the topic that is being discussed in Liberty Square or in the Baghramyan Avenue. Of course, in Armenia, many people are disappointed in Eurasian integration, as many promises have not yet become a reality, but the current protest is anyway purely social.

"We have no political demands," say the organizers of the protest. The fact that Russia has nothing to do with the mass protests in Armenia, caused by an increase in electricity tariffs, was also stated by the Energy Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak. Moreover, Russia hopes that everything will be resolved with the mutual satisfaction of both the demonstrators and the authorities and that a compromise between the authorities and protesters in Armenia is possible. This was announced on Wednesday by the Deputy Foreign Minister of RF, Grigory Karasin.

Activists who protest against the increase in electricity tariffs on Baghramyan Avenue urge Armenian citizens to turn off the lights and all the electrical devices in their houses from 21:00 to 22:00 daily, thus expressing their protest. The initiators of the action say that if every day even just for an hour all of us turn off the lights, it will cause substantial damage to the "Electric Networks of Armenia".