The protest erupted when sanitary inspectors raided a food market near the city center to check whether people selling meat there have documents certifying that it is supplied from licensed slaughterhouses. They confiscated more than one metric ton of meat as a result, despite fierce resistance from the traders, most of them farmers living in various parts of Armenia.
“I’d rather burn myself than let them take away my meat,” one of them said before trying to set himself on fire in protest.
After the self-immolation attempt, scuffles broke out between dozens of other traders and police officers called up by the inspectors. Eight of the protesters were arrested on the spot. The Armenian police said later in the day that they were referred to the Investigative Committee, suggesting that they may well face criminal charges.
“What should I say to my banks?” complained one of the protesting traders who had his meat confiscated by the Food Safety Inspection Body. He said he will now have trouble repaying his bank loans.
The protesters claimed that there are no functioning abattoirs in their regions. The deputy head of the Food Safety Inspection Body, Tigran Petrosian, denied that.
“In all provinces, we have licensed abattoirs that have even received government funding,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We suppose that people just don't use that service. They try to bypass it in every way possible.”
Only about 60 percent of Armenia’s 101 officially registered slaughterhouses operate at present. According to Petrosian, their combined daily output increased fivefold following the Armenian government’s recent decision requiring his agency to destroy the confiscated meat.
The official made clear that the government inspectorate will continue raiding meat shops and markets to “strictly” enforce the ban on home butchery.
The government first imposed the ban in 2020, citing the need to prevent the sale of unhealthy or contaminated meat. The measure has since periodically sparked protests by farmers who have traditionally slaughtered their livestock on their farms and courtyards.