Rallies in Yerevan in 1988 – Photo Report by Ruben Mangasaryan

Since 1987, many thousands of rallies in support of the Armenians of Artsakh have regularly gathered at the Yerevan Opera, the Armenian Genocide memorial complex, and in other squares of the Armenian capital.

The funerals of the victims of the conflict in Karabakh turned into rallies. One of the main characters of the rallies was the leader of the National Movement Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who later became the first president of independent Armenia.

At the beginning of 1988, at the peak of rallies, tanks appeared on the streets of Yerevan. However, the union center did not venture the bloody suppression of the national uprisings in Armenia.

Ruben Mangasaryan (1960-2009) devoted 25 years of his life to photojournalism, collaborated with Agence France Presse, Reuters, and Itar-TASS. Photos of Ruben were published in Time, Boston Globe, Le Figaro, Days Japan, New York Times, Focus, and many world-renowned newspapers.