VIDEO: Armtimes Captured How a Prosperous Armenia Representative Campaigned with a Weapon in Front of the HJ

Today evening, representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) gathered near the editorial office of the Armenian Times as part of their pre-election campaign. Although no famous BHK member participated in the rally, the original approach of campaigning (with BHK's young campaigners in the back of a vehicle) prompted us to cover the event, as reported by Armtimes.

During the filming, one of the BHK representatives displayed overtly aggressive behavior, ordering us not to film and attempting to take pictures of us with his phone, justifying his actions by claiming he was dealing with 'trash talk', etc. During this debate, our camera recorded that this individual was carrying a weapon at his waist, making efforts to display it. Realizing we were filming the weapon, he pulled out some kind of identification from his pocket, claiming the weapon was legal. While also filming the ID, which indicated that the individual was Garegin Lopoyan, we entered the editorial office when the BHK representative began provoking us by shouting 'land surrenderers', 'you’ve captured prisoners again today', 'Azeris', etc.

With this, he clearly indicated that the purpose of the action was not really campaigning, but rather using their familiar methods to convey something to the Armenian Times. Moreover, we should note that even though there was no visible sign with the name 'Armenian Times' near our editorial office (except for a small note on the door which was not visible to them), the BHK members clearly knew where they had come.

We presented what happened to Vahe Enfiadjian, who was at the BHK campaign headquarters next to our office, and tried to understand the purpose of this action:

- Mr. Enfiadjian, was this action specifically for the Armenian Times, or is it being conducted throughout the city? And was the display of the weapon intentional?

- I do not know about the incident in question, but I can confidently say that not only in Yerevan, in the Kentron administrative district, but also in all 10 regions, BHK is conducting campaigning, presenting our stance and expecting the votes of the citizens. As for the incident, whoever it was, I will refrain from commenting for a simple reason—I have neither seen nor know whom we are talking about.

- Garegin Lopoyan. He was the individual with the weapon. Was that a signal directed at us?

- Naturally, there can be no such thing. I suggest not looking for a storm in a glass of water. In our country today, there should be solidarity; dividing lines are unacceptable, and everything should be viewed in this context.

We note that throughout the entire conversation, the Vice Speaker of the National Assembly did not express any surprise regarding the incident and eventually tried to downplay the situation with the following words: 'But was there any use of the weapon against you? Were you threatened? Now there is a weapon here, I don't know...'

This implies that the important thing is they didn’t shoot or kill, so why are you upset? It is worth emphasizing that according to the Government’s decision, even if the weapon is legal, it should be concealed in public places. However, in this case, as we mentioned, the campaigner proudly displayed it.