Epress.am News from Armenia
17-year-old Mary Hamzyan, who was injured on Tuesday morning during the violent dispersal by Armenian police of the public demonstration outside the RA Presidential Residence on central Baghramyan Avenue, was taken to Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center right from the scene. Forensic medical examiner did not visit her.
Hamzyan sustained injuries as a result of both water cannons and police batons. The crew of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia visited the girl in the hospital.
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Astghik Aghekyan, another victim of police brutality, was also transferred to this hospital, along with her daughter, Maria Aghekyan. She, the woman said, was beaten during the detention, as well as in the police car.
“The area behind us was entirely filled with law enforcement officers and plainclothes men. Once water cannons were involved, they attacked us from behind. It’s shameful: they grabbed young boys from their testicles, hit them on the neck, and took them away,” Aghekyan told.
According to Armenian Ministry of Health, a total of 25 protesters were hospitalized.
Late on Monday, after a three-day sit-in at Freedom Square in central Yerevan, protesters against the rise in electricity rates in Armenia tried to march toward Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan’s office at 26 Baghramyan. However, hundreds of armed police officers, forming a barricade, closed the road, not allowing demonstrators to get any closer to the presidential palace. Protesters then sat in the middle of the road at the intersection of Baghramyan and Isahakyan streets, staging an impromptu sit-in outside the presidential office.