Hovik is 46 years old. He participated in the oppositional rallies following the February 19th presidential elections. He camped out during the nights at Opera’s Freedom Square. Below, we present his unedited account of what transpired during the day of March 1st and into the wee hours of the next morning.

Starting around 1 a.m. on the morning of March 1st rumors began to spread within the crowd that Artur Baghdasaryan, as the newly appointed Secretary of the Security Council, had signed off on a resolution to ‘clean-out’ Freedom Square that night. Some people believed the rumors and some even went home. Thinking that it was just another attempt at provocation, I didn’t take the news seriously. In fact, there was talk that the army would assault the Square on a daily basis.

At 6 a.m. it appeared that the rumors were indeed true. News reached us that the army was heading our way. Immediately the men formed a line around the perimeter, encircling the women and children behind them. Levon Ter-Petrosyan made his way to the microphone and stated, “Be careful. I beg you not to take any actions on your own. The police are also our countrymen. They’ll come here and announce their demands after which we’ll decide what our next step will be.”

About ten minutes later the troops showed up. They lined up opposite to us at a distance of 1-1.5 meter. They all wore helmets and were carrying shields and truncheons. The forward rank was made up of police but behind them, wearing dark outfits, were the special detachments.

Some of the troops approached the podium were Levon Ter-Petrosyan was standing. At that point we pleaded with the police standing opposite us - “ Dear brothers, give us a break. Let’s all stand here till the sun rises. Why have you shown up in the middle of the night? Your sisters and mothers are here. If blood is spilt it will come from us and there are no Turks here.”

We stood facing each other like that for about 3-4 minutes. They didn’t utter a word. Suddenly the loudspeakers went dead, the lights went off and the assault began. We could hear Levon Ter-Petrosyan screaming out, “Let the people go. I am the leader...I am responsible.... Arrest me.”

We had pieces of wood to burn at the nightly campfires. Many of us fashioned clubs from the firewood for self-defense. As to their allegation that we were armed and that they showed up merely to perform a search...it’s a shameless lie. They never mentioned anything about wanting to search the vicinity or us. Furthermore, for ten straight days while we were assemble at Freedom Square, the police were in our midst day and night and never hinted about any search. The statement made by our top officials that based on secret information they had received the police were sent in to perform a search for weapons and ammunition is completely ridiculous.
In fact, even if we assume for argument’s sake, that someone in the crowd did have a grenade, they wouldn’t have hesitated to use it given the actions of the police.

When they initially charged us they were forced to retreat given our strong resistance. It was as if the whole thing was staged so that they could record it on film and show it for days on end on T.V. After the police retreated the Special Forces charged in and closed in on us in small groups and beat us. If you turned around they were behind you as well, beating you.

The women and children were crouched down in the tents out of fear. The troops were striking the tent bars with their feet and clubs and turning them upside down. They took the metal plates that we used to burn fires and threw the smoldering ashes on to the people inside the tents and beat them unmercifully. Your worst enemy wouldn’t have done such a thing. A terrible cry rose up from the Square. The women let out such a piercing wail from their pain and fear.

It was probably the freedom fighters, the ‘Yerkrapah’ guys, that somehow were able to open up a corridor to leading to Northern Avenue as an escape route. The troops didn’t give us that option; they had surrounded us on all sides. Wherever you looked they were lined up in ranks 5-6 deep. If our guys hadn’t opened up that hole or if it had taken more time to do so, none of us would have left the Square in one piece. We’d all have been crippled.

Even while we fled the scene they chased us down and beat us. Their main aim hadn’t been merely to disperse us but rather to terrorize and crush us; so that we’d never think of staging a rally again.

I fled to a friend’s house. They cleaned me up a bit and I returned to the Opera. By the time I got there everything was over. The Square was full of troops and the police were manning the entrances.

I was told that the people were gathering near the French Embassy and that the troops had begun to beat them. I made my way there. Armen Harutyunyan, the country’s Human Rights Defender, had just arrived on the scene. The police struck him at least twice with their clubs as he tried to prevent them from taking one of the demonstrators into custody. 

Later tens of thousands of people showed up and erected barricades and prepared to defend themselves. When night had fallen the authorities made their move. The army, from their position nearby the fish shop, moved forward towards the people. The troops started firing illuminating tracer bullets but to no avail. The people let out such a hue and cry that the army started to panic. Then again, they were only 18 year-old soldiers.

They advanced again. We punched a few of them and the confrontation erupted. The people fought with stones, sticks and steel bars. The army was forced to retreat. Then we heard shots ring out. At first I thought they were rubber bullets. But the bullets were hitting the walls of buildings and ricocheting off. From the clear noise they made I knew they were army-issue rounds being fired. It’s a lie that shots were being fired from within the crowd of people. The videotaped the area from all sides. Even if someone in the crowd had a small pistol they wouldn’t have removed that person from the T.V. screen. It was they who besides using water cannons, tear gas, taser guns and concussion grenades, started to open fire on the unfortunate crowd with live military rounds. I saw it with my own eyes; even a retreating armored vehicle opened fire with a heavy machine gun. 

People had fallen to the ground but I can’t say why or whether they were dead or alive. Given the confused state I was in, the only thing I could think of was self-preservation and not helping anyone.

From the hail of Molotov cocktails tossed by the crowd the army was forced to retreat to Leo Street. They’re surely would have been more dead if those bottles hadn’t been thrown. All this could have been avoided if they had freed Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Today, they are heaping all the blame on us. They have described us as hooligans or at best misdirected souls under some hypnotic influence. No one raises the question, OK, where was the Catholicos during all this? He should have shown up and taken control of these people ‘gone astray’. I am certain that things would have ended differently if the Catholicos had stood between the people and the troops. But it seems that our Vehapar had more important matters to attend to. I don’t know...I am deeply hurt and disillusioned. I will not set foot within the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin for as long as that man is there.

I don’t even want to discuss the looting. Those who had come to do battle crossed over the barricades to the vicinity of the Miasnikyan Statue after the confrontation. When we heard what was happening on Mashtots Avenue I went through some back alleys to reach there. The looters were the local riff-raff or people specifically sent there. I hadn’t seen any of them at any of the rallies.

Some of the looters were removing items from the stores and calmly loading them into waiting cars. Police officers were standing nearby and didn’t raise a finger. Furthermore, the entire affair was being captured on camera and nobody asked, ‘Hey, wait a minute, what the hell is going on?’.

The nation must rise up as one; there’s no other solution. Their actions directly incite the people to resort to violence. There are many freedom fighters and people who shed blood defending this country who were badly beaten. They were humiliated and abused to the very depths of their soul. How long can this go on for? One day someone will resort to a lone desperate action with unforeseen circumstances. Is this what awaits us?

Photo by German Avagyan