Yerevan municipality did not permit protest against electricity price rise

The organizers of the protest against the upcoming rise in electricity tariffs from August 1, 2014 did not apply to Yerevan Municipality for permission, the deputy head of the municipality’s press office Arthur Sarukhanyan told Aysor.am.

According to him, official applications for rallies and marches and the municipality’s responses are posted on “Public Events” section of the website of Yerevan Municipality.

“If there is no information about this event, it means that organizers did not apply to the municipality,” Sarukhanyan said.

Aysor.am earlier reported that the civil initiative opposing the electricity tariff hike said in a statement on its Facebook page that it planned to stage a protest outside the building of Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) on Sarian Street in Yerevan at 10:30 am on July 1.

The civil initiative urged all those who oppose yet another unfounded tariff rise to participate in the protest action. “We should express our protest, put pressure and prevent the adoption of the illegal decision,” the statement read.

The previous protest against the electricity tariff increase in Armenia on August 1, 2014 was held outside PSRC building in Yerevan last week and led to a clash with police. 27 citizens were detained during the protest.

It is noteworthy that PSRC Chairman Robert Nazaryan earlier said that on August 1, 2014 the tariff of electricity supplied to all the consumer groups will increase by 3.8-4.3 drams/kWh (inclusive of VAT). In his words, the rise in electricity tariffs is inevitable as Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) CJSC may face financial difficulties: the company’s debt is already 16 billion 600 million drams.