Employees of the Malatia bazaar in Yerevan have assembled today in the area of the marketplace and are staging a protest against the decision to close down the bazaar.

According to the decision of the head of the urban development, technical and fire safety inspectorate, the Rafayel-Tatev family marketplace, known to everyone as the Malatia bazaar, shall be closed as of today.

Earlier, the owner and director of this marketplace, Samvel Avetisyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that inspectors from the aforesaid inspectorate had inspected this bazaar last October, recorded 17 violations, but 12 of them had already been eliminated.

"All violations are related to fire safety," Avetisyan had added.

The employees of the Malatia bazaar were also surprised by this decision.