{"id":255161,"date":"2014-06-23T15:03:57","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T11:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=255161"},"modified":"2014-06-23T18:06:12","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T14:06:12","slug":"several-detained-two-injured-in-protest-rally-against-electricity-price-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2014\/06\/23\/several-detained-two-injured-in-protest-rally-against-electricity-price-hike.html","title":{"rendered":"Several Detained, Two Injured in Protest Rally Against Electricity Price Hike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t<span style=\"line-height: 1.6em;\">A couple of individuals were seriously injured and several people were detained by police during a protest demonstration against the electricity price hike earlier today.&nbsp;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDuring the demonstration organized by an initiative called &quot;Protection of Workers&#39; Rights&quot; outside the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) earlier this afternoon, members of the initiative urged the Armenian public not to pay their electricity bills beginning on August 1.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRecall, the Commission decided to save electricity companies that are suffering financially by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2014\/06\/17\/why-can-price-of-gas-go-up-but-not-price-of-electricity-discussion-in-armenian-parliament.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000CD;\"><strong>adopting a decision<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to raise the price of consumer electricity by 3.5 to 4 Armenian drams per kWh. Currently, the rate is 38 AMD per kWh.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tProtestors held signs with such inscriptions as &quot;Forgive us, we also&nbsp;owe the banks&quot;, &quot;When will you be satisfied?&quot;, &quot;Let&#39;s put an end to tax collection from nomadic aggressors&quot; and &quot;My money printing machine broke!&quot;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tLaw enforcement officials used force&nbsp;against protestors who tried to approach the entrance to the building. They rudely pushed the demonstrators aside, who began to chant, &quot;You also have to pay!&quot; and &quot;Free, independent police!&quot;\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<iframe width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RYdXs0F_Dzs?wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen> <\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOne of the protestors holding an Armenian flag in his hand broke through the chain of police officers, approached the building entrance, and shouted: &quot;[PSRC Chair] Mr. Nazaryan, come out!&quot; Police then detained two activists, using force to get them into the police vehicle, but activists surrounded the car and didn&#39;t allow it to move, shouting, &quot;Freedom! Freedom!&quot;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Epress.am correspondent on the scene reported that residents in the nearby apartment buildings were pouring water from buckets on police officers&#39; heads.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<iframe width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ciVIDRYs3cA?wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen> <\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tPolice were later able to open the road to get their vehicle with the two detainees through. Apart from the two detainees, police later detained an additional 3 people, one of whom is Armenian National Congress activist Areg Gevorgyan.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn the process of clearing the road, police officers applied force against the activists who blocked Saryan St. for a short while. As reported by the Epress.am correspondent on the scene, a roughly 25-year-old young man who received a blow to his chest and an elderly man, who had heart problems, were injured during the clashes. Both were taken to hospital.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tYerevan Deputy Police Chief Valeriy Osipyan who arrived on the scene told reporters that in some cases police officers can use force, if activists &quot;do not submit to their lawful demands.&quot; One of those present strongly urged Osipyan to think about his nephew, who is connected to a recent stabbing incident.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe deputy police chief replied that if his nephew&#39;s guilt is proven, he will personally send him to serve his punishment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of individuals were seriously injured and several people were detained by police during a protest demonstration against the electricity price hike earlier today. <!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":255173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10463,56330,50560,50559],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}