KAPAN - On Thursday, November 11, hundreds of Kapan area residents staged a peaceful demonstration against uranium exploratory mining in the region. The demonstration was organized by six local groups and lasted for an hour in the town square. Organizers said the protests will continue until plans to find and mine uranium are scrapped.

Syunik Deputy Regional Governor Vache Grigoryan announced that the regional authorities supported the demands of the populace. One senior citizen said that government officials sitting in Yerevan should come and live in Kapan before claiming that uranium mining is safe. "Of course we are against the mining. Do they want to kill us all off?" said the irate grandfather. Also participating in the demonstration were Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan and Sardarabat Movement leader Tigran Khzmalyan. At first, MP Postanjyan was denied the chance to address the crowd from the platform. The crowd demanded that she be allowed to speak and she took the stage, urging residents to be unified and resolute. MP Postanjyan announced that she had raised the matter with the United Nations Economic Committee and that it had issued a preliminary finding that the Armenian government had violated international norms. Film director Tigran Khzmalyan reminded the crowd that according to the RA Constitution, the government and natural resources of the country belong to the people. "Isn’t it just a bit amazing that this is happening here in Syunik, a region liberated by Garegin Nzhdeh, by people who swear an oath in his name?" Mary Soghomonyan