YEREVAN. – The demonstration against the Armenian Law on Cumulative Pensions kicked off in front of the Government building.  

The police have closed the entrance of the building.

An unprecedented number of police officers gathered near the Armenian Government building on Thursday morning, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter had informed earlier. And capital city Yerevan Deputy Police Chief Valeri Osipyan had said the police had come “to protect public order and carry out maintenance work.” He had added that the number of police officers was always proportionate to the protests. 

The demonstrators have brought along colored balloons and they are releasing them into the air, and this symbolizes their “vanishing” salaries as a result of the “mandatory cumulative” component of the aforesaid law.   

But Aleksandr Ghazaryan, Head of the Government Department of Petitions and Complaints, said there is nothing negative about the Law on Cumulative Pensions, and that it will enter into force on January 1, 2014.

Ghazaryan approached the activists and asked the demonstrators to submit their demand with a written petition. But when the demonstrators demanded him to respond to their questions on the spot and verbally, Ghazaryan left the scene.