VIDEO: “This could be yet another soft cushion”: Parent of missing soldier

At 10 AM, we paralyzed the intersection of Baghramyan Avenue and Proshyan Street. Now, the Deputy Chief of Police has expressed a desire to meet with us to discuss our issue, and we have decided to go again to understand what they are offering us. This was stated today, July 26, during a protest action on Baghramyan Avenue by the mother of missing soldier Vardan Atoyan, Anahit Atoyan.

“We also know that this might be yet another soft cushion, but we are coming again. It’s not that we left and won’t return. The Deputy Chief of Police said, ‘Let’s go to my office, sit down, talk, and understand.’ On the other hand, what they said was that they would gather you from here and take you away. We are not afraid, but we don’t want any unpleasantness. Let’s say they wrap my arms and take me away, how respectful would that be?”

“Right now, we are here, and in an hour we could be somewhere else, in two hours we could be in a different location, blocking the Yerevan-October highway at dawn. It’s not that we will announce our steps. Simply, the person was courteous, said let’s go talk. Okay, let’s go and talk. Perhaps they want this peak to be alleviated. It’s not difficult for us to block the road again,” she added, emphasizing that their primary demand is a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to them, if Nikol Pashinyan had met with them for just 10 minutes, such a situation would not exist. It is worth noting that the protest includes parents of soldiers from the Ejmiadzin military unit (the “chemical troops”) whose children were sent on a combat mission to Artsakh on October 21, 2021, where they found themselves surrounded due to a mistaken order and went missing.

They have blocked the intersection of Baghramyan Avenue and Proshyan Street and are demanding a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan. They had previously held a protest demanding to meet the Prime Minister just a week ago, but he did not receive them.