News - PM: Police at Sardarapat Memorial tried to find out if Catholicos of All Armenians came to continue provocative actions

We must record that the previous day and also yesterday, the political movement being governed by the Catholicos of All Armenians had done actions aimed at obstructing the state ceremonial events. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told this to reporters at the courtyard of the National Assembly of Armenia Wednesday, referring to the fact that the police prevented the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, from entering the Sardarapat Memorial Tuesday on Republic Day. “And when yesterday His Holiness the Patriarch approached the place of a state ceremonial event; moreover, he did not have an invitation, and we did not have information that he expects an invitation, the police just tried to find out whether the His Holiness Patriarch came to continue the obstructing and provocative actions of his political supporters and launched by the movement led by him, or for other purposes. "When they [i.e. the police] received assurances that the visit has only a ceremonial purpose, His Holiness the Patriarch was granted access to the territory of the state ceremonial event at the Sardarapat Memorial," added Pashinyan. He noted that each and every Armenian citizen has the right to participate or not to participate in any movement. "It is about the following: is the goal to obstruct the state ceremonial event or not? Before that, the movement led by him made a process aimed at obstructing, at least, if not aimed at, then forming conditions for creating such obstacles. That was the story," added the PM.