A group of activists is protesting against operations at the Amulsar mine near the COP17 green zone, on the grounds of the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan. Participants said they faced several restrictions while holding the demonstration. They were not allowed to display a banner, walk toward the blue zone or carry out certain other activities, Sputnik Armenia reports.
Tensions arose between environmental activists and police officers during the protest, Panorama.am reports.
Environmental activist Ani Khachatryan expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of law enforcement officers, accusing them of imposing arbitrary restrictions on citizens and making sexist remarks.
Addressing one of the officers, the activist said: “Why does a police officer say, ‘You’re a girl, that’s not appropriate for you’? Have we moved from the law into the realm of sexism?”
The activists attempted to voice their concerns at the site of the international event, seeking to draw attention to the issue of operations at the Amulsar mine.
According to Ani Khachatryan, the incident began when she tried to ask police officers why they were preventing a person wearing a T-shirt with a message about Amulsar from entering the event area.
The environmental activist said she had merely wanted to understand the reason for the restriction, but one officer’s response angered her. She found it particularly unacceptable that, according to her account, the officer commented on her gender and outward behavior instead of explaining the legal grounds for the restriction.
“Who are you to tell me what is or isn’t appropriate for me?” she said.
Journalists drew Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan’s attention to concerns raised by environmentalists, independent experts and civil society representatives. They recalled that these groups had also appealed to countries and delegations participating in COP17, describing operations at the Amulsar mine as a disastrous project for Armenia. According to the critics, the project contradicts the Convention on Biological Diversity and obstructs the implementation of the goals established under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Papoyan, however, insisted that responsible mining is necessary for Armenia’s economy.
