Police ready to discuss Mashtots park incident
On March 14, the Armenian police took measures to restore public order at Yerevan's Mashtots Park which found deep resonance and varied interpretations by a number of media outlets.
The police attach importance to public opinion and invite a roundtable meeting with the sides concerned with the issue. In particular, the police are ready to discuss the matter with the Human Rights Defender's Office, the Institute for Human Rights and Democracy, local civic groups, including We are the owners of this city, Trchkan, and Our City, as well as parliamentary opposition parties the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun)- and Heritage Party. The discussion will be held in the RA Police building at Nalbandyan 130 on March 17.
According to a release by the Armenian police, the meeting will focus on the following issues;
- general freedom ("all that is not prohibited by law is permissible") as a principle and right
- the understanding and meaning of the terms "public order" and "public safety"
- The legality of putting tent(s) in public spaces
- the limits of police discretion, precondition for applying coercion
- The principle of reducing tension in police tactics
- The European Court of Human Rights' right of precedence and OSCE standards in the context of the above-mentioned issues.
Remind that in the evening of March 14, the police raided the park where environmental activists had been staging a round-the-clock sit-in in protest against what day called an illegal construction of trade kiosks. during the actions, the police seized the activists' tent pitched at the park.
