In the age of inflation figured don’t matter anymore, do they? In order to get the idea of how many people attended a rally in Armenia one has to read through half a dozen newspapers, have a good understanding of who owns which one, do some complex math and get a figure which is close to reality. Thus, having done all the aforementioned operations, I have concluded, that the joint rally of 3 Armenian opposition forces: Impeachment, Republic and New Times has had the participation of 8,000 people.
Looking at the Armenian blogosphere, we get the following figures:
- more than 10.000… – Bekaisa
- The joint opposition rally was similarly impressive with several thousand people in attendance. – Oneworld Multimedia
- 10 thousand, if not more – Kornelij Glas (which was obviously bored to death at the rally as he explains in his post)
- Definately 10,000 – says Aramazd (but he’s way too biased to be taken seriously)
However, the best response to this number speculation was made by Bekaisa:
But, frankly, never mind – doesn’t matter how many people were there yesterday, it is much more inportant how many will come by 12-13 May…
RFE/RL says it was the largest campaign rally held to date, although I suppose we’ll see that surpassed by pro-Government parties soon if only because they tend to do such things when faced with such a crowd. Regardless, I’d also say it’s the largest rally I’ve seen so far during the campaign although I’ve only seen other rallies by the other main parties staged outside of the center. Incidentally, I’d probably go with the 8,000 figure also. Nevertheless, an impressive sight and something the opposition sorely needed at this moment in time. Interestingly, a fellow journalist remarked to me today how pissed off he was with the main photo agencies here as they apparently didn’t cover it.
Actually, I’ve now decided that referring to “several thousand” is the only correct approach for reporting the rally although it would also be ok to quote opposition supporters and the arrangers as saying “as many as 10,000” attended. I also think people could be quoted as saying “election observers say it was probably the largest campaign rally held to date.”
Anyway.
There is no matter how many people gatherd,the sense is how many of them are ready to go till the end…
Tigran – I do think, that it is very important how many people gathered, what age groups they represent, etc. You can’t do anything with 100 people, even if they’re ready to go till the end. You can’t do anything with 10,000 people, if all of them are elderly and pensioners. So these numbers are vital!
I don’t know for whom theses numbers are vital,beacause for me quality is much important than quantity(I’m really don’t want to mention many episodes from the history). I was there and was looking carefully,so more than 90% of people were just spectators. I think this time the idea to change government by revolution will not work for sure. Just simple game…
>I think this time the idea to change government by revolution will not work for sure.
+1