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Passions heated up at a meeting of the Yerevan City Council on Tuesday following a speech by its opposition member Pedro Zarokian.

Zarokian, who represents the opposition National Progress faction, accused Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan and his team of corruption.

“Corruption destroys democracy, justice and primarily affects the most vulnerable members of society – children,” the oppositionist said.

He pointed to the Hetq report about the systemic corruption in the Armenian State Interests Fund (ANIF) CJSC headed by Avinyan, which revealed that ANIF's security service hired 8 employees, including 3 women – mostly relatives of law enforcement officials – and their salary amounted to 540,000 drams.

“Most interestingly, the ANIF office was located at a building that already had 24-hour security. Mr. Avinyan, you could at least organize your work so that we would believe that, for example, you don't have drivers opening car doors for you, people holding umbrellas.... You recently bought a Mercedes worth $86,000. Did you know that in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and other rich cities, mayors don't have official cars and drivers at all?” Zarokian underscored.

He stated that such officials would have been charged and ousted immediately in democratic countries.

“In our country, it seems that you are dividing the looted funds among yourselves,” he added.

The opposition member also showed pictures of Yerevan school gyms with potholes, adding, “Go and fix these potholes, shame on you!”

After his comments, the Yerevan mayor turned off his microphone, but Zarokian continued speaking out loud.

“Mr. Zarokian, watch your mouth! I am warning you. You will no longer have the opportunity to speak, your time is up,” Avinyan responded.

Addressing the Yerevan City Council members from the ruling Civil Contract faction who stood up, Avinyan urged them not to react to “empty talk”.

“People like you should not be allowed to enter schools for children's safety,” Avinyan told Zarokian.

As Zarokyan left his seat and headed for the door to leave the sessions hall, Arman Barkhudaryan and some other members of the ruling faction moved toward him, saying, “Come here!”

While Avinyan was urging them to calm down, Zarokian left the room shouting “Bastard!”.

“Mr. Zarokian feels like he is at home and perhaps his wife is nearby, thinking he can get away with it. I think he needs help. Everyone, please don't react!” the mayor said.

“The Yerevan residents have decided that people like Mr. Zarokian should also be part of the City Council, so we have to tolerate him,” he added.