Police bans clergyman`s access to Kirants village
ArmInfo. The RA National Security Service has already notified the restriction of entry and exit of citizens to the village of Kirants, Tavush region. The head of the regional police department of the Republic of Armenia, Artur Mkrtchyan, told reporters about this on May 20, commenting on the accumulation of law enforcement forces around the village and the refusal to allow representatives of the "Tavush for the Motherland"
movement into this locality.
According to Mkrtchyan, entry and exit from the village is
temporarily prohibited due to work being carried out there related to
the deployment of border guards in the border areas. He found it
difficult to answer the question of how long the ban would be in
effect, which, however, would not apply to village residents.
The police set up a three-row cordon in front of the entrance to the
village, which caused bewilderment of the head of the "Tavush for the
Motherland" movement, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.
"Why are you lined up like that?" the archbishop asked, turning to
the police. The latter replied that they served the Republic of
Armenia. When asked by the archbishop why the road was blocked, the
law enforcement officers replied that entry was prohibited due to
ongoing actions. "I am a resident of the village, I am the primate of
the diocese. Let us pass, we will calmly approach the residents,
don't create problems. If the villagers can do it, then everyone
can," Galstanyan said.
Addressing the RA Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan, the
archbishop noted that by his actions he is preventing a peaceful
march to the residents of the village of Kirants, which in itself is
an illegal decision, like the entire process associated with the
so-called delimitation of borders. "They prohibit the spiritual
leader from meeting with representatives of his flock. Meanwhile,
cars with Georgian license plates, as well as residents, quietly move
around this so-called security zone. All this can be called in one
word: lawlessness, since we are talking about a ban on movement for
citizens. For whom and why did they bring the police troops here?
These troops should go in a different direction, not this one. But
since the authorities have destroyed all systems, including the
security systems, what is happening can be called a manifestation of
this. We will not leave here. , despite provocative actions on the
part of the authorities. There is one person named Hakobyan, who is
sent by both the chief of police and the head of the regional police
department to organize provocations," the archbishop said.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan celebrates his birthday, on which local
residents congratulated him.