Alexander Iskandaryan: Yerevan protests not against prices, but against government policies

Since July 19 popular protests have been going on in Yerevan. Initially the protests were associated with a 50% rise in the price of public transport, up to 150 drams. It took about a week for the socially and politically active part of the population of Yerevan to force Mayor Taron Margaryan return to the old prices, but the rallies and protests in the Armenian capital have not stopped. Today the protesters demand the resignation of Margaryan and other officials. Vestnik Kavkaza asked the director of the Caucasus Institute, Alexander Iskandaryan, to explain the situation.

"The protests against the price of transport are not just a protest against the price of transport, it is a form of political protest. Actually such protests in Yerevan had already been happening repeatedly on various occasions. I'm not saying, of course, that it is a single organization or anything like this. But there are grounds for protest in general. This is a different form of social protest, a form of political protest, and they arise in connection with different occasions. Earlier there were protests about the kindergarten, a small square in the center of Yerevan, which was built up with stalls, protests over the restructuring of the central market, there were different forms of environmental protest," Iskandaryan said, noting that since this time the reason was social, the protest will get larger, but it is still one of a number of different forms of political activity of citizens.

The mayor, the expert added, of course will not withdraw, and this particular protest will die out by itself. "But again, there are reasons for such forms of protests," he added.