“I Don’t Have a Soldier to Send to the Cannibal Army” Mothers who Lost their Sons are at the Presidential Palace

The protest of the “Black-dressed Army” just started at the government building, which has more people than the previous protest. Besides the parents of killed soldiers, there are also concerned young people, representatives of NGOs, and human rights activists.

The participants of the protest are standing in a row, holding the photos of the soldiers who died of non-combat deaths in the army over the years with posters saying: “Don’t kill our soldier”, “The army – a slaughterhouse”, “October 27”, “Justice”, “Don’t leave 3 underage children without a father”, “We don’t have a child to be killed in the army”, and “the army without murderers”. They demand to stop the military call-up until the murders of the soldiers are solved and there are clear guarantees that such cases will not happen again. 

The police officers persuaded the aggrieved mothers to clear the entrance to the government building, which they had blocked. The reporter of Henaran.am informs that the participants of the protest are going to begin marching; however, their route is unclear.

The reporter of Henaran.am informs that after standing in front of the government building, the participants of the protest made a circle in the center of Republic Square. They are going to walk towards the Presidential Palace from there. Anahit Bakhshyan and Styopa Safaryan, MPs from Heritage Fraction and Tigran Khzmalyan, a member of Sardarapat Initiative Group, have joined the protestors.

Human rights activist, Artur Sakunts told Henaran.am that they demand “the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to solve the registered murders within a month and punish the real offenders, as well as give clear guarantee that there will not be any more deaths registered in the armed forces.” 

The march of the aggrieved mothers reached the RA Prosecutor General’s Office and stopped there silently. Then the mothers spoke about the murders of their sons and walked towards Baghramyan Avenue where they stopped in front of the National Assembly Building. From there the protest march headed towards the RA Presidential Palace. The police were not able to prevent the protestors from crossing the street and settling at the metal fence of the presidential palace.  At this moment, the aggrieved mothers are agitatedly shaking the bars of the fence. Styopa Safaryan, MP from Heritage Fraction is trying to calm them down.

Source: www.henaran.am