Tag Archives: protest

Activists clash with police in Armenia

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 protesters scuffled with police in Yerevan over electricity price rises for businesses. Activists said they believe President Serzh Sargsyan has reneged on his promise to protesters in June to subsidise planned electricity price rises by omitting businesses from the deal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Police clash with protesters in Azerbaijan

AUG. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Riot police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of dozens of young men in the provincial Azerbaijani town of Mingachevir, a rare display of public anger and frustration in Azerbaijan. The crowd had been calling for the head of the local police force to resign after a 22-year-old Azerbaijani man died in police custody two days earlier.

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(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Armenian activists want more rallies

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A core group of activists opposed to electricity price rises have called for a series of rallies in Yerevan between July 27 -31 ahead of the Aug. 1 start date of the increases. Momentum behind the rallies protesting against the price rises has fizzled out.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Protesters challenge Kyrgyz labour law changes

JULY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Dozens of people protested in central Bishkek against proposed changes to labour laws which they say will reduce the rights of temporary workers.

The main proposed changes focus on making it easier for foreign companies to hire and fire workers.

The government has argued that it needs to update labour laws to crackdown on the “shadow economy” where employers hire people for short periods but do not pay tax.

Protesters said the amendments would help foreign companies dodge paying social security and over-time.

The mood at the protest, which wound its way through central Bishkek under a cloudless blue sky, was angry but calm.

“We are against slavery,” one of the protesters’ banners said.

Many of the protesters were representatives of workers’ unions attached to mines, including the Kumtor mine in the east of the country owned by Toronto-based Centerra Gold. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.

After the protest, the government said they would set up a working group to look at the demonstrators’ concerns.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Armenians continue to protest against electricity price rise

JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hundreds of people continued to protest in central Yerevan against a potential price rise for electricity, although a Bulletin correspondent at the demonstration said that the numbers and the intensity have dropped off.

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(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Protesters in Armenia shift their rally

JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — Demonstrators in central Yerevan shifted their rally against an electricity price rise on Monday after police cleared barricades from the central street they had occupied for two weeks.

A Bulletin correspondent said around 1,000 people gathered at Freedom Square in the centre of Yerevan for another protest on Thursday evening. Police watched the protest but the atmosphere was calm.

“We demand one thing. The immediate and complete cancellation of the decision adopted by the State regulatory commission on baseless rise of electricity tariffs,” one of the protesters said.

Thousands of people have been protesting in the evenings in the centre of Yerevan, demanding that the government scrap the plan to raise the price of electricity, the third price rise in two years. The Russian-owned electricity company says the hike is necessary to support the power grid.

A state regulatory commission has already approved the price rise but in an apparent concession to the protesters earlier this month Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan ordered an audit of the electricity company.

And, on Wednesday, an Armenian state watchdog fined the electricity company $126,000 for violating the rights of consumers for demanding residents in new-built housing pay up front for their electricity.

The protests have widespread support even though the numbers have been dwindling.

“I’m very busy and that’s why I can’t take part in the protests,” said Georgi Barseghyan, a Yerevan resident. “So are other members of my family. But we all are with them.”

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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Electricity protests continue in Armenia

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — Several hundred protesters continued to occupy a main street in central Yerevan, demonstrating against an electricity price increase.

The number of demonstrators has fallen and a Bulletin correspondent said there were now no more than about 1,000 people protesting on July 2, a drop from an estimated 10,000 protesters last week.

But the stand-off with riot police is still one of the most widely supported street demonstrations in Armenia for years.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also warned the West against interfering, a sign of the Kremlin’s concern.

The protesters, who are mainly young, have defied police warnings to quit and the atmosphere has veered from tense to party-like over the past week. Last week police used water cannons and detained over 200 protesters when they tried to clear the square.

In a bid to appease the protesters, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan suggested inves- tigating further a request by the Russia-owned electricity monopoly to find out just why the price increases are needed.

“I strongly believe that cancelling the tariff increase is extremely dangerous. Hence, until the given company pro- vides its opinion, the govern- ment will incur the entire burden of the tariff increase,” Mr Sargsyan said.

Most activists, though, dismissed Mr Sargsyan’s offer as a distraction.

“Increasing electricity tariffs will increase nearly all prices. Bread, butter, oil,” one activist at the protest said.

The electricity price rise is the third in two years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Tajik electricity prices may rise

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s economy ministry said that electricity prices may have to rise by 12% this year, media reported. Electricity prices have become an issue in the region because a proposed rise in Armenia has sparked street demonstrations.

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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Anti-government protests gather pace in Armenian capital

JUNE 21-25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — In an often tense standoff with police, thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan this week against electricity price rises.

A Bulletin correspondent estimated that the protest had swelled to around 8,000 people by Thursday evening, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Armenia for a generation and one that could pose a serious threat to the authorities.

On Tuesday, the second day of the protest, police fired water cannons and detained more than 200 people as they tried to clear Freedom Square in the centre of the city. The assault, though, just appeared to strengthen protesters’ resolve.

“Our demand remains the same and we will not leave Baghramyan Avenue until the illegal decision on electricity price hike will not be annulled,” said Aram Manukyan, an activist.

Hundreds of protesters have camped out overnight since and called for the 17% electricity price rise to be repealed.

This is the third price rise in two years. RAO UES, the Russian company that owns Armenia’s electricity network, said it needed to increase prices because of the fall in the value of the Armenian dram which makes imports expensive.

The price raises are particularly painful because Armenia, like other countries in the region, is having to deal with a drop in its economic prospects.

Protesters had started to gather in central Yerevan on Monday, June 22, in anticipation of parliament approving the electricity price rise two days later.

The next day, police turned their water cannons against the demonstrators and waded into the crowd, detaining people trying to stage a sit-in.

Since then, the crowds of protesters have swelled but been peaceful.

PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that the protests were misguided.

“Blocking one of the major prospects in the city will not lead to any success. I call on the activists to get back to constructive dialogue,” he said.

In 2008, eight people died in Yerevan when soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Armenia receives World Bank power warning

JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia faces a chronic shortage of electricity within three to four years unless it brings online extra generating capacity, the World Bank said in a report.

Power generation in Armenia is particularly controversial as it involves the Metsamor nuclear power station outside Yerevan.

Metsamor, built in the 1970s, generates around 40% of Armenia’s power but is considered a danger by the European Union because of its aging technology and location in an earthquake-prone zone. It has recommended that the power station is closed down although Armenia earlier this year elected to bring a Russian company in to extend the lifespan of the power station.

Lora Bailly, head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, said that even with Metsamor generating power, Armenia still faced a problem.

“Our analysis suggests that in the near future Armenia will need additional capacity to avoid power shortages. It is very important in three to four years to put into operation a new thermal power unit,” she said at a press conference in Yerevan.

And next year the Armenian government plans to close the Metsamor power station for six months for repairs.

Ms Bailly said that Armenia could supplement its current power generation with thermal power.

This month electricity shortages have been in focus in Armenia. The state regulators have just approved a 17% increase in electricity prices, the third rise in two years, irritating many Armenians. Opposition groups have promised protests.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)