“You hugged the police, you pushed them, you hit them, you insulted them, you did everything possible,” Simonyan

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, discussed the police’s operational tactics during the terms of previous and current administrations in his remarks on the draft amendments to the Law on the Structure and Activities of the Government.

Simonyan stated that everything that happened on March 1, 2008, and after was a crime. He addressed the opposition, saying, “For a month and a half or more, you and your colleagues hugged the police, pushed them, hit them, insulted them, you did everything possible,” he declared.

Simonyan pointed out that during the opposition's recent rallies, stones were thrown at the police. “You see those people and incite your supporters to hit the police with stones; in every case where violence is used against the police, there will be an equivalent response, let no one doubt that. Because, unlike the unpleasant phenomena of the past, today the government is, ironically, a legitimate and elected government,” Simonyan stated.