Police officers seriously endangering themselves serve for maintaining public order at any second – defense minister

During the ongoing events in Armenia the Police use the same tools which are being used in the most civilized, democratic countries, defense minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan said at a meeting with reporters, commenting on the recent actions of the Police.

“I understand that what I am going to say now can create some reaction among many people, but during any mass rally, and I have seen this in different countries, the actions of the Police, no matter how proficient, prepared and equipped the Police are, can always be on the verge of the necessity or proportionality to use force”, the minister said.

He highlighted the fact that during the upcoming proceedings all mistakes that in fact happened will be investigated. At the same time, the minister noted that it is no less important to rule out the presumption of a priori guilt towards the police activity.

“These people, seriously engendering themselves, serve for maintaining the public order at any second. The event organizers may like or dislike this, but I assure you that the consequences of non-action can be relatively severe than the actions the Police are ought to do”, Vigen Sargsyan said.

He called to view everything within proportionality. “If you want to put some comparisons, I urge you to watch the videos of response to rallies in the most civilized countries with democratic traditions, and they are a lot in the internet – starting from France, Germany up to the United States, Great Britain, and just make comparisons. In other words, the Armenian Police didn’t invent anything new. The Police use the same tools that exist, and in honor of the Police it must be noted that during these years they managed to conduct the work necessary for having a professional level”, Vigen Sargsyan added.