Our demand is neither against the Prime Minister, nor against the authorities; we want to know how the slaughterhouses will work. The livestock farmers, who are protesting on a section of the Yerevan-Sevan highway, said this today.

Artavazd Barseghyan, Adviser to the Governor of Kotayk Province, met with these livestock farmers. He told them that the demand that "there should not be slaughterhouses" is not the solution, and suggested that the respective law could be amended.

The livestock farmers reached agreement with the governor's adviser to wait for the government to discuss the matter, and if the livestock farmers were not satisfied with the results, a discussion would be held at the provincial hall, and they will listen to the residents.

As reported earlier, these livestock farmers’ dissatisfaction is related to the long distance from their settlements to the slaughterhouses and the prices the latter offer for slaughtering the animals. They argue that making the slaughtering of their animals in slaughterhouses mandatory deprives them of their income. They have been protesting in front of the government building for the last few days demanding a meeting with the prime minister. Their rally yesterday was accompanied by the closing of some streets.

The government's decision, according to which meat sold in Armenia must have a document certifying that it was slaughtered in a slaughterhouse—which is a food safety guarantee, came into force on January 15.