0 8000 12 11

On November 4, Vanadzor hosted an assembly by New Armenia (Nor Hayastan) Public Salvation Front combating against constitutional amendments, preceded by a march by the rally organizers in the central streets of Vanadzor. The march aimed to inform people about the assembly since according to Andrias Ghukasyan, people had been misinformed before that no rally would be held. During the assembly, New Armenia Front Political Board members Zhirayr Sefilyan, Garegin Chugaszyan, Armen Martirosyan, Andrias Ghukasyan and others gave speeches. In his speech, Armen Martirosyan touched upon the extraordinary decree on constitutional amendments adopted by the RA authorities, spoke about the difficult social situation in the country and upon summing up his speech addressed the people by saying, “All of us should combat, there’s no other way!” Then he gave the floor to Garegin Chugaszyan who said that there was an attempt to attribute to the people of Armenia the lowest human qualities to psychologically break their combat will, and civic activists were labeled as agents of foreign powers. As he touched upon shifting to the parliamentary system, he mentioned, “They want to elect themselves and deprive the public of a possibility to make a choice.” Zhirayr Sefilyan also touched upon a number of social issues, including the oppressive tax policies adopted by the RA authorities and urged people to stand up for combat by emphasizing that, “We are losing our homeland.” The other speakers also expressed their position on the draft Constitution, urging people to attend the nation-wide assembly to be held on December 1 in Yerevan. The assembly also ended in a march. At first, the police tried to obstruct the rally participants from marching along the street and provoke clashes, but finally, they had to give in to the persistence of the people and ensured the security of the march.