YEREVAN. – We have suspicions that there were directives, and an attempt was made to give a political context to the action during the actions by the cafés built in the surroundings of the Opera.

Viktor Mnatsakanyan, Head of Kentron Administrative District of Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, on Friday told about the abovementioned to reporters.

“A criminal case has been filed on charges of hooliganism,” he noted. “I want to know who were the employees of the cafés, and who—the instigators.”

The head of Kentron district stressed that there were people who had attempted to give political nuances to the protests.

“We have observed with video cameras that young people were from various cafés, [and] who have received [phone] calls,” Mnatsakanyan said. “The police are investigating.”

He expressed disappointment that because of some people, their plan to restore the green space around the opera house at Liberty Square in downtown Yerevan was portrayed under a negative light.

“But everything is fine [now],” he added. “And the Yerevan residents supported us.”

Also, Viktor Mnatsakanyan assured that the dialogue between the Yerevan Municipality and the proprietors of these cafés was over when the Yerevan city hall had sent these café owners the notification to clear the area.

“After the notification, when we canceled the [lease] contracts, the dialogue stopped there,” he noted. “Now these [cafés] are unauthorized structures. If we start to dialogue with all the unauthorized structures, we will not go far.”