Epress.am News from Armenia
1:30 PM Police are forcibly removing protesters from Baghramyan Avenue. Hundreds of law enforcement officers have formed a human chain to hold people back from the carriageway. 46 protesters have been taken into custody; among them are Davit Sanasaryan, Arsen Ohanyan, Shahen Harutyunyan, Tigran Araqelyan, Vaghinak Shushanyan, Gor Sargsyan, and Ani Kaghinyan. Deputy Yerevan Police Chief Valery Osipyan assured the detainees would be released shortly, and no proceedings would be initiated against them.
As of 1:30 PM, police have restored traffic on Baghramyan Avenue.
1 PM The Armenian Police called for demonstrators occupying Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan to end the “illegal blockage” of the central avenue by 12:30 PM on Monday; otherwise, police warned they would do so by using “the powers vested in the police by legislation of the Republic of Armenia.”
Note, thousands of citizens have been staging a nonstop sit-in on Baghramyan Avenue for nearly two weeks calling on Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan to reverse the expected hike in electricity prices.
On Saturday, July 4, one of the protest leaders, Davit Sanasaryan, announced they would move the barricades one step forward every day toward the RA Presidential Residence, if Armenian authorities did not officially reverse the rise in electricity rates by 7 PM on Monday, July 6.
Today, during negotiations with Deputy RA Police Chief Hunan Poghosyan, protesters refused to comply with the demands of the police and move the protest action to the Freedom Square not far from Baghramyan Avenue. As a result, dozens of police officers began at 12:30 PM to dismantle the barricades built by protesters using nearby garbage cans. As of 1 PM, police have finished dismantling the entire barricade, and trash cans have been taken away by employees of owner “Sanitek.”
“Police will use powers vested in them by Armenian law to restore the public order that has been disrupted for nearly two weeks,” Deputy Yerevan Police Chief Valery Osipyan stated, calling for protesters to help law enforcement officers “to return Baghramyan Avenue to its original beautiful state.”
Presently, hundreds of demonstrators are sitting in the middle of the road, refusing to leave the protest site.
