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Yerevan-Garni highway is trafficable again: Demand of Garni residents is met (video)
20.30 Residents of Garni village agreed to open the road after the authorities agreed to meet their demand and remove construction equipment from the gorge. Anyway, the villagers say they will be able to celebrate final victory after the construction project is cancelled.
19.22 Yerevan-Garni highway has been blocked for 8 hours now. Residents of Garni village continue their protest against a construction in a nearby gorge. They say they will not open the highway unless the construction equipment is removed from the gorge. 14.25 Several residents of Garni village, who are holding a protest against a controversial construction in the Azat River Gorge, are now sitting on the ground, blocking the main road. They sat down on the asphalt after police officers formed a chain, determined to open the road. Numerous policemen have cordoned off the protesters, urging them to disperse but the villagers are ignoring their calls.
11.59 Residents of Armenia’s Garni village in Kotayk province have blocked the main road demanding to halt constructions in the Azat River Gorge.
By a government decision, an irrigation system is being constructed in the gorge that will take water from the Azat River and send it to Kaghtsrashen and Narek communities in Ararat province. The angered villagers demand a meeting with the head of the Armenian government, Hovik Abrahamyan. They claim that the Garni gorge is jeopardized and say the water will be piped to irrigate the lands and fish farms belonging to the Prime Minister.
Hovik Abrahamyan is in Russia at present.
Cheif of Kotayk regional Police Department has arrived in the village to talk to the villagers. He is persuading them to open the road but they are adamant. They say they will not leave the site unless the technique is taken out of the gorge.
