First escalation: February 16–17
In the morning of February 16, day 6 of the sit-in the protesters set a polyethylene cover on the kiosk carcass they were occupying to protect themselves from the abundant snow, and were approached by three civilians, presumably - associated with the construction, demanding to take the cover off.
"We told them we did not break any laws. 1–2 minutes later the police approached us and said the same thing - without any justification - that we must take the cover off and stand under the snow. We immediately called different MPs and the Ombudsman's Office. Told them we were doing a peaceful picket and that they are depriving us of essential means of protecting ourselves from the snow"
- Ruzanna Grigoryan, protester
Through the mediation of the RA Ombudsman's Office the cover remained intact.[12]
Soon a concrete-mixing vehicle tried to enter Mashtots park to deliver concrete to the construction site. About 40 activists blocked the way of the truck to prevent it from reaching its destination, and the truck had to return because the concrete had become useless in the cold.
The police threatened to disperse the protest for violating public order, while the Ombudsman Office of Armenia interfered and argued that the peaceful protest did not violate public order.[13]
The next day the police made an attempt to disperse the picket by forcefully evicting the protestors from the kiosk they were occupying and surrounded the construction site, blocking protesters' and reporters' entrance.[14]
The concrete-mixing vehicle returned later - only to face some 100 protesters, some of which lay in front of the truck to block its movement.
The activists were told by Deputy Head of Yerevan Police Robert Melkonyan that a municipality representative would arrive at the park at 4PM to negotiate with them.[15]
The activists' hopes put on the Municipality weren't justified either: as agreed, the response concerning the ongoing situation should have been received from the municipality. At 4PM no municipality officials appeared at the park. Instead, the Art Manager of the Yerevan Chamber Theater, Ara Yernjakyan - a member of the Yerevan Council of Elders - arrived to meet the protesters. The situation got tense, yet a normal dialogue was initiated.
Yernjakyan argued that all the buildings in the park were temporary, the protesters countered by showing the latter were of concrete and bricks while temporary buildings could not be fixed to the ground and/or be made of those materials. They also pointed how a boutique was erected around a tree with a hole made on the roof for the top of the tree.
Heritage Party MP Anahit Bakhshyan, also in the park, stated that the construction was capital and not moveable and carried out by Gardening CJSC (Կենտրոն-Կանաչապատում), an organization which is to deal with lawns and trimming trees and not construction. The replied to the mayor's statement "You can apply to the court if you need", saying "By the time we apply to the court, they will have completed the construction".[16]
