Chants of “Armenia, Armenia” ushered Raffi Hovannisian to the platform today at Freedom Square.

Thousands filled the square on a mild late afternoon to hear what Raffi Hovannisian had to say about his declared strike against lies and fraud.

Heritage Party MP Armen Martirosyan reassured the crowd that Hovannisian was in good spirits and health and that he was determined to direct this popular movement to its logical conclusion.

Martirosyan declared the launch of a signature petition where citizens could express their opposition to the scheduled April 9 inauguration of Serzh Sargsyan.

Heritage Party MP Zaruhie Postanjyan referred to the members of the Constitutional Court, which yesterday rejected the election annulment petitions of Hovannisian, as judges who made a transaction with the devil.

She said that all their motions had been rejected by the court.

Postanjyan, in a veiled reference to the Nemesis operation that hunted down the pepetrators of the 1915 Armenian Genocicde, declared that the Armenian people would not tolerate those today who violate the law of the land and stand in the way of justice and democracy.

The MP announced that Serzh Sargsyan, as the organizer of the February 18 election, was also responsible for its being fraudulent and rigged.

Members of the Sardarapat Movement also took the stage and asked the people if they were ready to form an army to inaugurate Hovannisian as the legitimately president of Armenia. They forcefully responded, “Yes”.

Heritage Party speakers also announced the formation of a Barev Development Fund in order to collect money for creating websites and other communication vehicles to convey the message and further actions of the movement.

Speakers, including a former Regional Governor, ridiculed the slogan used by Serzh Sargsyan five years ago when, during his campaign, he declared “Forward Armenia”. The Governor said that Sargsyan and state officials had indeed gone forward in the sense of lining their pockets.

One of the military doctors who was brutally beaten at the Harsnakar Restaurant last year addressed the crowd and announced that while, due to his physical injuries, he couldn’t participate to the extent that he had wished, he was with the people in spirit. He called for an Armenia free of intimidation, violence and disrespect for the law.

Andreas Ghoukasyan, a presidential candidate who staged a hunger strike throughout the campaign, told the crowd that the Constitutional Court didn’t display the courage to call Serzh Sargsyan as a witness and question him regarding his public statement that he had “organized” the election.

Nikol Pashinyan gave an impassioned speech saying that there was no room for compromise and that the prime task of the day was the drafting of the principles for the formation of a new government.

He said the public would be fully incorporated into the process.

Pashinyan again called for thousands to fill Republic Square on April 9 to stage a people’s inauguration of Raffi Hovannisian as president.

On the same day, Serzh Sargsyan will take the oath of office. That ceremony is to take place at the Sports and Cultural Complex located on the banks of the Hrazdan Gorge.

There will be a rock concert tomorrow at Freedom Square.

From Sunday through Thursday, Hovannisian announced that a Civic Council would be launched in Freedom Square to lay the underpinnings of a new executive and judiciary.

The next public rally will take place on Friday, March 22.