VIDEO: 2 Taken to Abovyan Police Station as Georgian Plate Drivers Express Discontent

“They left 10,000 cars overflowing into Armenia and put the people in a bind. Our main demand is that the issue of our cars with Georgian plates be solved properly and reasonably, so that people are not troubled by their flawed laws.” This was stated by a citizen who contacted Auroranews.

“We organized a protest, but our respected police are obstructing us at every turn. We set up the protest section in the area after the Abovyan bridge leading to Charentsavan. They won’t let us stand on the permissible part of the road, we haven’t been an obstruction, we haven’t blocked the road, and they haven’t even let us gather until the end. After that, we moved about 500 meters up towards Charentsavan, and the same situation occurred again; the police approached us and again wouldn’t let us be,” the citizen reported.

“We ask the police why are you obstructing us, and they say you might block the road.” After all this, we turned around to return to the city. Just before reaching Belagio, we stopped off the road in a free area and the police came again; it turned into a verbal squabble with them, and in the end, they took 2 people to the Abovyan police station and now we are going there,” the citizen mentioned.

When asked what their main demand was, the citizen replied, “Our main demand is that the issue of our cars with Georgian plates be resolved properly and reasonably, so that people are not troubled by their flawed laws. We are not saying that we should be freed from everything; we want a sensible decision. They left 10,000 cars in Armenia and put the people in a bind. No one is willing to lose their car today. We are not asking for gifts of our cars. They send us to the Ministry of Finance to deal with our issues, which is completely baseless, as we have been there several times.”

It should be noted that by government decision, starting January 1, 2024, all fees prescribed by law will be levied on vehicles registered in Georgia operating in Armenia, including customs duties, value-added tax, environmental tax, and property tax. In the case of returning to Georgia, owners of vehicles operating in Armenia under temporary import procedures will receive all payments back.

Additionally, it was mentioned that on December 14, 2023, drivers of vehicles with Georgian plates held a protest in front of the Government, raising their voices against the recently adopted law, according to which they must either clear customs for their vehicles or remove them from Armenia by January 1.