Epress.am News from Armenia
While being detained by police earlier today, Mashtots Park activist Dvin Isanyans (pictured) lost consciousness in a police car from blows inflicted by a police officer. This news was conveyed to Epress.am by Gevorg Safaryan, who also was detained today.
Safaryan said police officers dragged him, Isanyans, and Ani Khachatryan to the police vehicle, and the all the way to the station, they swore at and attacked them.
"I didn't see specifically where the police officer struck him, but Dvin lost consciousness and for a few minutes the same officer was trying to revive him. He was asking, 'What, better now?' We're now at the station and most likely they'll slap us with an administrative fine," he said.
Recall, civil society activists had gathered at Mashtots Park since early this morning to protest the renaming of the park. They issued an open letter to visiting French President François Hollande and French Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud, urging them not to participate in the ceremony.
Activists said they consider "the renaming, re- appropriation and co-optation of this public space with such important significance" to be unacceptable. Mashtots Park, they said, is a symbol of "the Armenian citizenry’s campaign to protect its constitutional rights, and as a platform for the freedom of expression and thought in Armenia."
Activists at the park were chanting "The park is ours!", "There is no mayor!" and "The president is dead!", after which plainclothes officers formed a human chain around the activists.
The demonstrators called upon law enforcement officers not to organization provocations and urged provocateurs to wear police uniforms and not block their freedom of movement.
"Your boss, your dad, that [Armenian President] Serzhik [Sargsyan] disgraces [Armenia] to the whole world. That man [French President François Hollande] is aware of all this. You are a disgrace to your master. It's not right to be so loyal — you have to have dignity and self-respect," said activist Anna Shahnazaryan, addressing the police.
Later, clashes erupted between police officers and activists, after which the latter were detained.
Photo from Dvin Isanyans' personal Facebook page.