Police bans clergyman`s access to Kirants village  

ArmInfo. The RA National Security Service has already notified the restriction of entry and exit of citizens to the village of Kirants, Tavush region. The head of the regional police department of the Republic of Armenia, Artur Mkrtchyan, told reporters about this on May 20, commenting on the accumulation of law enforcement forces around the village and the refusal to allow representatives of the "Tavush for the Motherland"  movement into this locality.

According to Mkrtchyan, entry and exit from the village is  temporarily prohibited due to work being carried out there related to  the deployment of border guards in the border areas. He found it  difficult to answer the question of how long the ban would be in  effect, which, however, would not apply to village residents.

The police set up a three-row cordon in front of the entrance to the  village, which caused bewilderment of the head of the "Tavush for the  Motherland" movement, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.

"Why are you lined up like that?" the archbishop asked, turning to  the police. The latter replied that they served the Republic of  Armenia. When asked by the archbishop why the road was blocked, the  law enforcement officers replied that entry was prohibited due to  ongoing actions. "I am a resident of the village, I am the primate of  the diocese. Let us pass, we will calmly approach the residents,  don't create problems. If the villagers can do it, then everyone  can," Galstanyan said.

Addressing the RA Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan, the  archbishop noted that by his actions he is preventing a peaceful  march to the residents of the village of Kirants, which in itself is  an illegal decision, like the entire process associated with the  so-called delimitation of borders. "They prohibit the spiritual  leader from meeting with representatives of his flock. Meanwhile,  cars with Georgian license plates, as well as residents, quietly move  around this so-called security zone. All this can be called in one  word: lawlessness, since we are talking about a ban on movement for  citizens. For whom and why did they bring the police troops here?  These troops should go in a different direction, not this one. But  since the authorities have destroyed all systems, including the  security systems, what is happening can be called a manifestation of  this. We will not leave here. , despite provocative actions on the  part of the authorities.  There is one person named Hakobyan, who is  sent by both the chief of police and the head of the regional police  department to organize provocations," the archbishop said.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan celebrates his birthday, on which local  residents congratulated him.