A joint meeting of the Armenian opposition, which drew several thousand people to the center of Yerevan, has finished. In his final speech, the leader of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, said that the opposition, together with the people, had decided to hold the next meeting on April 8 on Freedom Square.
He urged people to show restraint and consolidation and to work together to achieve success,Novosti-Armenia reports.
It was announced that the authorities had met the requirements of the opposition and released the political prisoners who were convicted after opposition clashes with police in March 2008, Gazeta.ru reports.
Two members of the opposition - Roman Mnatsakanyan and opposition leader Arutyun Urutyan, convicted for incitement to riot and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison – received early release.
The representative of the ruling Republican Party, Sharmazanov, said that the president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has ordered the police not to use force against the demonstrators who broke through a police cordon around the area. After clashes in 2008, during which ten people were killed, the authorities banned rallies on Freedom Square.
He also stated that the parole of the two men convicted of involvement in the riots in 2008 could be regarded as a first step towards the democratic reforms sought by the opposition. However, he stressed that President Sargsyan has previously expressed his intention to implement democratic reforms and the recent events fit this logic.
Sharmazanov said that the Republican Party so far has no intention of dismissing the Prime Minister.
