We finished dismantling the cafes built in the area near the Opera House for today. This is what head of Kentron Administrative District of Yerevan Victor Mnatsakanyan told journalists on 14 March (PHOTOS).

“Today we finished the dismantling of the cafes. We still have to work for a couple of more days. I think tomorrow we’ll continue with more energy and greater efforts,” he stated.

It has already been two days since protesters launched a protest against the dismantling of cafes built in the areas near the Opera House. Yesterday representatives of Yerevan Municipality and the owners of the cafes had a meeting at Yerevan Municipality, but the meeting was fruitless. The municipality’s representatives stress the fact that the cafes will be dismantled no matter what. The owners of the cafes claim that the dismantling will leave 300 people unemployed and they won’t allow the dismantling. The situation was tense in central Yerevan since early this morning. Demonstrators had closed down Mashtots Avenue, but the police red berets opened it. Throughout the day, the municipality was trying to restart the dismantling, but the employees of the cafes resisted, and the municipality stopped dismantling. At 18:15, 19 citizens were detained and later released.