Strong Armenia accuses of ruling Civil Contract party of deliberate  provocations in Tashir

ArmInfo. Legal expert and member of the "Strong Armenia" party Gohar Meloyan accused the ruling "Civil Contract" party of deliberate provocative actions against supporters of Samvel Karapetyan's political party.

She recalled that on May 16, law enforcement detained 10 supporters  of the "Strong Armenia" party in the Tashir community who were  conducting an awareness-raising campaign ahead of the June  parliamentary elections.

She emphasized that the "Strong Armenia" supporters were holding a  peaceful rally when representatives of the ruling party approached  them and began provoking a clash. To support her claims, she  published video footage from the scene of the incident. According to  her, supporters of the ruling party had the opportunity to meet with  representatives of Samvel Karapetyan's party, then turn off the road  and take a different route. "However, they chose a different  path-targeted provocations against our supporters, who tried their  best to resist them and stood peacefully with the distinctive flags  of our political party," Meloyan noted in a video message on her  Facebook page. Meanwhile, she said, supporters of the ruling party  approached the crowd and began provoking them, resulting in 10 Strong  Armenia supporters being detained. "This is the reality we're  fighting against. Every day, our political force conducts campaigns  and awareness-raising events in Armenia's regions. During our visits,  we meet with various people, including those who support the ruling  party. But we treat them with respect, because we believe that in a  strong Armenia, we must be tolerant of each other, not provoke or  hate each other," the party member emphasized.

Meloyan stated that they demand their immediate release, noting that  approximately 300 supporters of their party have already been  detained or arrested. "We call on our compatriots, as well as local  and international observation missions, to demonstrate consistency in  their actions. We stand with our supporters. As for the behavior of  the Civil Contract party, it only demonstrates their true connection  to the people and the law.  This will be the basis for their defeat,  because by detaining people, they only strengthen their desire to  fight. After all, they understand that 300 can become 3,000, 300,000,  and so on," Meloyan concluded.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia previously reported the  detention of 10 supporters of Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia  party. It was later announced that six of those detained had been  arrested.

Earlier, footage circulated online of Armenian Defense Minister Suren  Papikyan, campaigning for the ruling party in the Tashir community,  threatening to drive pickup trucks into supporters of the "Strong  Armenia" party. Furthermore, the footage clearly shows him ordering  police to detain citizens chanting "Samvel - Prime Minister!" It's  also curious that only opposition party representatives were detained  in the incident; ruling party representatives get away with any  actions, including aggressive ones.