"Prohibit the free sale of freeworks" - former Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia
Ban sale of fireworks to public
“The tragedy that occurred in the Surmalu shopping center was sobering and painful. It is time to take tougher measures so that we see fireworks only at state and community events,” Tigran Avinyan, a Civil Contract party board member and candidate for mayor from the ruling party, said. The fire at the shopping center in Yerevan on August 14 appears to have been caused by a fire at a fireworks warehouse there.
Tigran Avinyan served as Deputy Prime Minister in 2018-2020. In April 2022, it came out that that the ruling party intended to nominate him for mayor. Elections will be held next year.
According to a member of the ruling party, fireworks should not be permitted in private celebrations and reserved only for public holidays.
The former deputy PM told reporters that in fall the parliament would consider toughening restrictions on fireworks.
On August 14, an explosion and fire broke out in the Surmalu shopping center. Sixteen bodies have been found, two are still missing. Sixty-two were sent to area hospitals. The fire was extinguished on the evening of August 16. The search for survivors continues.
In memory of the dead, August 17 and 18 have been declared days of mourning in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Avinyan, who visited the shopping center on August 17, said a terrorist attack had been ruled out, and exact causes of the incident would become clear during future investigation.
Tigran Avinyan was one of the first to respond to the mall incident. Even before visiting the ruins of the shopping center, he posted on his Facebook page that unrestricted sale of fireworks should be reconsidered.
“I call on our colleagues in the National Assembly to attend to this matter,” he wrote.
Avinyan considers the storage of large quantities of highly combustible material to be an unacceptable risk, and that even the best emergency system would be ineffective in this situation.
“Storage of four tons of explosives in one place is a huge danger. A small spark can lead to disaster.”
“We must abandon the tradition of fireworks”
According to the former Deputy Prime Minister, what happened in the Surmalu shopping center should give us pause about fireworks in general.
He believes that fireworks at private parties should be avoided, as they pose a great danger and disturb neighbors:
“We must understand that citizens within a radius of 10 km should not have to participate in our private events, especially since there are elderly people and young children among them. Even if there are fireworks before 23:00, they will disturb the peace of these people. It’s time to get tougher on this.”
Parliament to discuss tightening fireworks access
Avinyan said that in the fall it is planned to submit to the parliament a draft for tightening access to fireworks:
“In 2021, the government approved a project that practically restricted the use of pyrotechnics during private events. According to the project, the use of fireworks was allowed only during state and community holidays.”
The former Deputy Prime Minister believes that this step should be taken definitively, and the government should moreover deal with the issue of hazardous waste storage.
Ban sale of fireworks to public
