21 February 2008, 17:50
Armenia: opposition is setting up a tent camp in Freedom Square of Yerevan
The rally of the opposition that lasted for almost four hours is over in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Currently, a tent camp is organized in the Freedom Square that adjoins the building of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet, where the participants of a sit-down strike will reside.
At the very beginning of the rally, Nikol Pashinyan, a member of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's election office, informed the audience that as of that very moment the Freedom Square turned out to be the central headquarters of Ter-Petrosyan. It would be the starting point of various protest actions, including rallies, marches, pickets, etc. He announced that a sit-down strike would start in the Square with the main demand to arrest the infringers of the law and participants of violent actions against the opposition and against free expression of people's will.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan has called on Armenian students to start a strike from February 22.
He has also informed that two Deputy Ministers of Defence of Armenia - General-Lieutenant Manvel Grigoryan, a national hero and veteran of the Karabakh war, and General-Lieutenant Gagik Melkonyan - have assured the first president of Armenia Levon of Ter-Petrosyan that the army would never go against its people. Levon Ter-Petrosyan addressed the rally on February 21.
According to his version, he met both Generals, and they had assured that they were "warrants of safety of the Armenian people." Manvel Grigoryan and Gagik Melkonyan have stated that the whole command of the armed forces of Armenia will defend the presidential candidate who has won the people's vote of confidence.
Author: Lilit Ovanisyan, CK correspondent
