The residents of Margahovit village of Armenia’s Lori Province are holding a protest since Friday morning. They are protesting against the opening of a copper mine in the area.

Within the framework of this program, five villages—including Margahovit—in the province shall be affected communities.

The package of this mine program was presented to the community, and today respective public hearings are scheduled in Marghovit, but the villagers do not plan on attending them.

Speaking with the villagers, Vazgen Khachikyan—former head of the Social Security Service of Armenia and ex-member of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia who was convicted of embezzling the money of the aforesaid service—said that it will be a closed-pit mine with no tailings dam, as up to half a million tons of ore cannot be processed through a tailings dam.

To the accusation that he, too, probably has a share in this program, Khachikyan responded that he has no share and only does paid work.

According to him, this copper mine will be 20 km away from Margahovit, and its owners are Czechs.

But Gayane Sargsyan, the former deputy governor of Lori, stated that she, as a former official, was against the operation of any mine in the province.