Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations

RFE/RL reports that the Yerevan municipality has requested political parties and private individuals to “refrain from conducting” mass rallies which would disrupt traffic in central Yerevan at a time when the roads are already congested and made more problematic by snow and ice.

The website of the U.S. Congress-funded radio station calls the statement a defacto ban, but there have been no requests to hold such events to date and apart from last year, marches have never been part of any pre-election campaign. Moreover, the municipality actually appears to be working within the law.

Citing the need to prevent traffic jams, the Yerevan municipality has indicated that it will ban presidential candidates from having their supporters march through the city center in the run-up to and in the aftermath of next month’s election.

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In a statement late on Wednesday, the Yerevan mayor’s office said it considers street marches “inexpedient” because they would disrupt the already congested traffic in the city center and restrict “citizens’ freedom of the movement.” Political organizations and individual citizens should therefore refrain from organizing such actions, the statement said.

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However, the campaign headquarters of one of the opposition candidates, Levon Ter-Petrosian, claimed the opposite, saying that the move came just days after the former Armenian president made clear that he will urge supporters to take to the streets of Yerevan if the vote is falsified by the authorities. “This is yet another obstacle to the political movement led by Levon Ter-Petrosian,” said Nikol Pashinian, a Ter-Petrosian campaign coordinator.

Pashinian told RFE/RL that the Ter-Petrosian campaign will file a complaint to the election observation mission already deployed in Armenia by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. […] “Under Armenian law, the mayor of Yerevan has no authority to find demonstrations expedient or inexpedient.”

The request applies to the pre-election period as well as that following the 19 February vote. However, while RFE/RL says that the move is an attempt to prevent supporters of Levon Ter-Petrossian from taking to the streets in the event of a falsified election, many here suspect that they’ll take to the streets even if the election is clean but their candidate does not win. Critics argue that Ter-Petrossyan will not accept defeat, has already declared himself winner of next month’s vote, and will urge his supporters to take to the streets regardless.

Incidentally, the only one time that opposition groups did march before an election in the last ten years was in May 2007 when Impeachment and Republic marched on the building of the National Security Service (NSS) where Ter-Petrossian’s campaign manager was being held in pre-trial detention. Interestingly, the march was actually illegal under the Law on Conducting Meetings, Assemblies, Rallies and Demonstrations.

Even so, the organizers of the demonstration were not prosecuted and there was no attempt to disperse or prohibit the march.

ARTICLE 9. LIMITATIONS ON ORGANISING AND CONDUCTING A PUBLIC EVENT

3. It is prohibited

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2) to conduct public events

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d) military units, defense facilities, penitentiary institutions, pre-trial detention institutions and in places less than 150 meters away from such areas,

Nonetheless, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun and Orinats Yerkir are also outraged by the statement from the Yerevan Mayor’s Office and say they will not comply. Although there should theoretically be no reason to hold marches which would unnecessarily block streets or roads in the run-up to the election, opposition supporters argue that it is a matter of freedom of assembly.

Anyway, even without the request, the municipality can use the law to prohibit gatherings and marches, especially after election day itself.

3) organization and convention of public events is prohibited if such events aim to forcibly overthrow the constitutional order, instigate national, racial or religious hatred, campaign for violence or war, as well as in other causes prohibited by the law.

In the meantime, each request to the municipality for permission to stage marches needs to be assessed individually and within the context of the existing law. Even though Ter Petrossyan’s team say they will report the municipal request to the OSCE, the law is actually in favor of the authorities. Basically, the municipality already has the right to prohibit demonstrations and rallies which cause disruptions in the city center.

ARTICLE 13. PROHIBITION TO CONDUCT A MASS PUBLIC EVENT

1. A mass public event is prohibited by a decision of the authorized body pursuant to consideration of notification provided

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6) the rally may result in disruption of traffic in the mentioned area or at interstate highways,

Whether the law is adequate or acceptable is a mute point. It is, however, the law and the municipality appears to be acting within very clear guidelines. Besides, as has already been mentioned, there should be no need to hold any marches before the election. Afterwards is another matter and then it’s unlikely that anyone will be adhering to the law. One certainly can’t see the opposition requesting permission for demonstrations or rallies in the hope of kick starting a “democratic revolution.”

“Since observers and the public are not necessarily familiar with Armenian legislation, we will do our best to inform them that the decision of the mayor’s office is illegal,” RFE/RL quoted Pashinan as saying. Actually, it appears as though very few are aware of what is contained in the law and it would be interesting to discover how many have actually read it.

Photos: © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007-8