Epress.am News from Armenia
Video from Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan, where thousands rallied again after “No to Robbery” civic initiative members urged people to assemble on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue at 6 PM on Sunday in order to develop a further action plan and discuss Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan’s statement, according to which the RA government would subsidize the cost of electricity rate hike, leaving the tariff unchanged for consumers until an international audit of the national electricity distribution company “Electric Networks of Armenia” was completed.
At the beginning of the rally, “No to Robbery” suggested moving the protest to the Freedom Square in central Yerevan; soon after, the members of the group and about two hundred protesters left Baghramyan Avenue. Thousands of demonstrators, however, remained at the site of the sit-in. The police called on them to disperse; otherwise, they have threatened to forcefully disperse the crowd.
The video was shot between 6 PM and 9:30 PM on Sunday
On June 19, thousands of demonstrators began round-the-clock protests in Yerevan against the plans by the national power utility to raise electricity tariffs in Armenia.
On June 22, hundreds of the demonstrators marched toward the RA presidential residence on central Marshal Baghramyan Avenue. However, hundreds of armed police officers, forming a barricade, closed the road, not allowing demonstrators to get any closer to the presidential office. 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 palace.
Early on June 23, authorities warned the people that the protest was unsanctioned and warned that if the demonstrators did not clear the area, the police would use “special means” to disperse them. Shortly after, Armenian riot police violently dispersed the crowd.