“Round table” held at Police of the Republic of Armenia (VIDEO and PHOTOS)

On February 21 at the initiative of Police of the Republic of Armenia a meeting took place in Yerevan which was attended by high-ranking police officers, media executives, representatives of public organizations, OSCE and Human Rights Defender's Office.
Deputy Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia Artur Osikyan made an opening statement at the meeting, noting that police officers’ actions aimed at maintenance of public order and security during the latest assemblies haven’t been equivocally assessed by the civil society and some representatives of local media, in particular, journalists’ activities and police officers’ actions in the course of those events are interpreted and commented in different ways. 
Police of the Republic of Armenia attach great importance to the points of view of public representatives and this roundtable meeting with local media executives is first of all aimed at regulation of the cooperation between them, specification of principles, powers and obligations of police officers and journalists during public assemblies. 
In particular, it was suggested by Police representatives to specify whether a media representative can act as a participant in a mass event or he/she should exclusively exercise their professional functions. Simultaneously, it was noted that it would be desirable to provide journalists with special uniforms (jackets) and badges so that they could easily be identified which will surely help to avoid any unpleasant incidents during public assemblies.
After a hot discussion this suggestion won the approval of OSCE representatives and some participants, while media executives noted that in order to avoid unpleasant incidents Police should increase the level of professional readiness of police officers instead of introducing special jackets and badges. 
A number of media executives brought some examples of impeding professional activities of journalists during recent assemblies. Police representatives provided detailed explanations for those cases. 
By the end of the meeting Police representatives expressed their willingness to keep on looking for new ways of cooperation and to hold regular discussions concerning issues of mutual interest.