HAK leadership negotiates with police brass as impatient throngs clamor outside

At around 7pm, Yerevan time, thousands of citizens who had attended the HAK (ANC) rally at the Matenadaran were told that today was the day when Opera Square would be finally “taken back” by the people. The Square has been off-limits to any opposition event or rally since the bloody police assault on peaceful demonstrators of March 1, 2008.

Buoyed by the desire to finally achieve some modicum of success, the throngs descended on Opera Squuare and waited for HAK leaders to negotiate with the police brass. The entire Opera Square, popularly nicknamed Freedom Square, was cordoned off by helmeted and baton wielding police, who seemed to be waiting for orders from their superiors as well.

At least 45 tense minutes passed before word got out that many had already entered the square from the Tumanyan Street side. The police were still holding their ground at Mashtots Street.

HAK’s Levon Zurabyan was negotiating with Nersik Nazaryan, Chief of the Yerevan Municipality.

It appears that when permission was finally granted to the crowds to enter, some police units still hadn’t received the word.

People in the hundreds marches into the Square yelling “Victory” and “Struggle, struggle, till the end”.

Well-wishers made a beeline to Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannisian who was in the third day of a hunger strike or “fast for freedom” on a park bench in the square.

HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan made a triumphant entrance into the square flanked by other top opposition leaders including Stepan Demirchyan, Aram Sargsyan, Davit Shahnazaryan, Gagik Jhahangiryan, Lyudmila Sargsyan, Smbat Ayvazyan and others.

People were milling about the square waiting for the loud speaker system to be installed.

Once set up, Levon Zurabyan took the microphone and welcomed the throng, estimated to be in the tens of thousands back to Freedom Square.

He declared that this was only the first step in the popular struggle that lay ahead seeking to create a government of, by and for the people.

HAK announced that their next public rally was scheduled for April 8 and that this time it would take place in the “liberated” Freedom Square.