In Yerevan, protesters criticize Amulsar's examination results

Today, in Armenia, participants of a protest rally held in front of the government building, have claimed that investigators had provided incorrect results of the environmental impact assessment of the Amulsar mine, and the examination itself was incomplete. The activists demanded a personal meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to present their own research results to him.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 14, the Investigating Committee of Armenia made public the conclusion of an international expert group, according to which the environmental risks during the operation of the Amulsar mine would be minimal. After that, more than 500 residents of the city of Jermuk held an action protesting against such a conclusion.

Today, the opponents of the development of the Amulsar mine held the protest action in front of the government building with the demand to ban gold mining at the Amulsar mine. The protest was organized by the Armenian Environmental Front, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported from the place.

According to the organizers, more than 100 people took part in the protest action.

The protestors claim that the investigators distort the conclusion of the environmental impact assessment of the Amulsar mine. "The examination revealed numerous inaccuracies and flaws, lack of facts, and incompleteness of risk assessments," the activists claim in their statement.

In the course of the protest action, Levon Galstyan, the spokesman of the Armenian Environmental Front, stated that authors of the examination failed to answer the question about the safety of gold mining at the Amulsar mine, since the conclusion of the examination was incomplete.

The activists demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They asked the police to let a group of five persons into the building to attend a government meeting, but law enforcers blocked the entrance to the building by cordoning it off.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 15, 2019 at 01:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.