On April 21st, the Azg daily newspaper reported Aram Karapetyan’s account of the events as follows: “A group of provocateurs who, by the way, were not local residents were sent for this purpose. When people began asking questions, down below, they began to yell insults. People began to beat them mercilessly. About 300 people beat up a group of 20. Some of our people began to separate those engaged in the fight and somebody shot at one of them and wounded his leg. We took him to the hospital.”

The brawl at the rally was publicly condemned by 34 political organizations, including the triumvirate of coalition parties in Armenia’s ruling government. According to a May 3, 2005 Arminfo report, speaker of the Armenian National Assembly and head of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed Country] Party Artur Bagdasaryan commented that: \"Orinats Yerkir believes that it was right to sign the statement supported by the 34 political forces. In the statement, we only condemned the participation of criminal elements in political processes, and the Armenian President himself said that the essence of the statement was acceptable to him.\" Furthermore, Arminfo reported that the leader of the ARFD-Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction Levon Mkrtchyan and the deputy speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, who also serves as the deputy chairman of the Republican Party, Tigran Torosyan also made separate statements on this matter. Specifically Mr. Mkrtchyan said that: “…by signing the statement, the ARFD only condemned the participation of criminal elements in political processes, and there is nothing wrong with that.” Mr. Torosyan said that: “…by signing it he fulfilled the decision of his party”.

As REF/RL reports, “Speaking on state television on Monday, Kocharian said 34 political groups, among them the three parties represented in his cabinet, put themselves in an `awkward position\' by issuing a joint statement that implicitly blamed `criminal elements\' for the trouble.” Specifically the President accused the New Times Party leader, Aram Karapetyan, of provoking the incident. The brawl resulted in the arrest of 13 opposition members including Aram Karapetyan and his deputy, Alexander Minasiyan who were all released later by the city police.

The political opposition in Armenia, whose activism follows the cyclical routine of remaining dormant in the winter and getting active in the spring, has yet to prove whether its members will be able to muster any serious initiatives this year to improve the political situation in the country. The extent of their resolve to improve the political situation in Armenia will be tested during upcoming debates over the package of constitutional amendments that the Parliament of Armenia is set to review this summer. The amendments, if enacted, include various provisions that would limit the power of the president and create greater separation between the executive and judicial branches of the government.