Armenian police target teenage rock cult

AFP - When police officers arrived at 13-year-old Masha's
home, searched her room and inspected her computer, it was not because
they suspected her of any crime.

Her offence was simply to be a devoted follower of the angst-ridden
punk-rock subculture known as 'emo', in an ex-Soviet state where
pressures to conform remain strong.

"It was offensive and frightening at the same time," said Masha, a
schoolgirl in the Armenian capital, clearly upset by the experience.

Police in Yerevan have been conducting a campaign against the
capital's small but controversial emo community since the recent
suicides of two teenagers who were rumoured to have been emo fans.

They claim that the subculture represents a threat to young people's welfare.

Officers have visited schools, searched pupils whose distinctive
clothing marks them out as possible 'emos', and mounted surveillance on
public places where young people gather.

Several fans have been detained for questioning, despite the lack of
any specific legislation against the musical genre or its followers.

In a recent newspaper interview, Armenia's Chief of Police, Alik
Sarkisian, claimed that emo could "damage our gene pool". "We should
fight against such phenomena because they are morally harmful to our
people," he said.

Emo -- an abbreviation of 'emotional' -- is a more melodic and
melancholy form of punk rock. It has origins in the United States but
has become a well-established global subculture in recent years.

Masha and her friend Ani, also 13, say they started dressing in the
unconventional emo style in an attempt to stand out from what they call
"the grey masses".

But they now feel that they have to disguise themselves in ordinary
clothes for fear of detention or harassment by other youths. "They point
and laugh at us. Or even worse, they sometimes beat up our boys," Ani
said.

Sensationalist media reports in Europe have suggested that the gloomy
lyrics of some emo songs can influence teenagers to harm themselves or
attempt suicide, although fans have consistently rejected the
accusation.

Emo devotees in Britain and Russia staged protests two years ago against what they saw as negative stereotyping.

Some people in Yerevan not only believe that emo can cause suicidal
depression, but also see it as a degenerate Western influence on
traditional Armenian values.

Members of the youth wing of a local police association held a march
against the subculture in the capital this month, carrying banners that
read "No to foreign perversions!"

One teacher in a Yerevan suburb, who asked not to be named, said the
directors of some schools supported the police action, and had even been
actively encouraging officers to search pupils who dressed unusually
and check them for signs of self-harm.

"We suspected one female pupil of being an emo. We invited our
district policeman and the pupil's parents to come in, and explained how
dangerous the consequences of this could be," the teacher said.

A local human rights activist compared the police's behaviour to a Communist-era witch-hunt.

"It is like the repression in Soviet times, when law enforcement
agencies were chasing hippies, punks and rockers -- all those who
refused to live within society's limits and be like everyone else," said
Mikael Danielian, chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia.

But the police say they are only intervening to protect vulnerable
youngsters. "We are simply doing our job," said the police colonel
responsible for youth affairs, Nelli Durian.

"We are conducting explanatory, preventative work among teenagers and
their parents to prevent children from becoming hooligans and from
thoughts of suicide."

However, she said that she could not blame emo music for the reported rise in teenage suicide attempts in Armenia this year.

Young fans like Masha and Ani have been worried by the anti-emo
campaign, but they insist that they will not be pressured into
abandoning the subculture that they love.

"It is impossible to ban youth movements using repressive methods,"
Ani said defiantly. "We will not stop listening to our music and
dressing how we like. This is my choice."

Well then.