Yerkir Tsirani’s Marina Khachatryan is being pulled and shoved during the Yerevan City Council meeting on Tuesday
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—The Armenian parliament approved on Friday a government proposal to essentially ban reporters from attending sessions of Yerevan’s municipal council.
Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian moved to impose such a ban last month just days after an embarrassing brawl witnessed by journalists.
Two members of the city council representing the opposition Yerkir Tsirani party were confronted by their pro-government colleagues when they tried to hand Markarian glass containers filled with sewage collected from a damaged sewer pipe in the city’s Nubarashen district.
Yerkir Tsirani’s Marina Khachatrian slapped a male councilor representing the ruling Republican Party (HHK) after being jostled by him. The latter slapped Khachatrian while another HHK councilor puller her hair in response. Khachatrian and two other Yerkir Tsirani members, including the party leader Zaruhi Postanjian, were then physically forced to leave the hall.
One week after the incident, Markarian called for “regulatingâ€
