Protest Held in Front of National Assembly Following Brawl Aimed at Distracting from Speaker’s Controversial Remarks

A protest has erupted in front of the National Assembly following a brawl that occurred within its premises. A significant police presence has gathered near the entrance of the parliament.

A group of citizens, including members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation's Yerevan city committee, have gathered at the entrance, condemning the scandalous incident that took place in the parliament today. The brawl was sparked by ruling party members who claimed that assistants of the opposition ‘Armenia’ faction looked at them ‘the wrong way’ in the corridor.

Numerous police forces are on-site, and some protesters were detained during the demonstration. In an interview with reporters, head of the ARF Yerevan city committee, Sargis Karapetyan, stated that they did not come here to clash with the police, but to seek answers to why ruling party MPs are behaving like thugs, attacking three assistants of the opposition faction with a group of 15.

“If those ‘brave’ guys can beat up three people in offices, we are waiting for them here. If they are so ‘brave’, let them come forward. Even if the assistants looked at them ‘the wrong way’, they are parliamentarians and should be able to control themselves. If they cannot control themselves, they should go somewhere else and not turn the parliament into a place of hooliganism,” emphasized Karapetyan.

He added that it is condemnable for an MP to behave like a last resort thug and call assistants to their office to instigate a brawl. “There is also an issue of proportionality here. If an assistant hits a legislator in an office, it will be labeled as an attack on the parliamentarian, and they will be taken to court. In other words, they accepted that law for themselves, that they can do whatever they please here. If that is the case, let the police charge them for turning this country into chaos and destabilization,” noted Sargis Karapetyan.

He also expressed his belief that ruling party members provoked the brawl in parliament to distract from the scandalous statement made by Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan regarding prisoners. “The ‘brilliant thoughts’ of the Speaker of the National Assembly, that prisoners should not return, must be something they need to divert the people’s attention from. This show serves to make the public forget what Alen said. They organized this for that reason, but for us, raising hands against our friends and behaving like hooligans is a matter of self-esteem. And if they are bringing the matter into the realm of self-esteem, let’s see who will lose there,” stated Karapetyan.

It should be reminded that today, on December 7, an assistant to opposition MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan reported to journalists that while passing through the corridor, he heard voices and, upon approaching, saw ruling party members beating up three assistants of opposition MPs in Vice President Ruben Rubinyan's office. He specifically recognized Vahagn Aleksanyan, Hrachya Hakobyan among the assailants, and also saw Sisak Gabrielyan. He claims that security personnel were present but did not intervene in any way.