{"id":266255,"date":"2015-06-24T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=266255"},"modified":"2015-06-24T15:05:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T11:05:59","slug":"armenian-protesters-regroup-at-protest-site-after-violent-dispersal-and-mass-arrests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/24\/armenian-protesters-regroup-at-protest-site-after-violent-dispersal-and-mass-arrests.html","title":{"rendered":"Armenian Protesters Regroup at Protest Site After Violent Dispersal and Mass Arrests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tThousands of Armenian protesters rallied in Freedom Square in central Yerevan on Tuesday evening, hours after a peaceful protest sit-in on Baghramyam Avenue <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/23\/armenian-demonstrators-beaten-chased-and-detained-police-clear-protest-site-in-yerevan-video.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">was violently dispersed<\/span><\/a> by Armenian police, resulting in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/23\/victims-of-police-brutality-in-yerevan-visited-by-human-rights-activist-in-hospital-video.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">numerous injuries<\/span><\/a> and more than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/23\/mass-arrests-in-armenian-capital-accompanied-by-police-profanity-and-harassment-video.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">200 arrests<\/span><\/a>.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSubsequently, the protesters marched from the square toward the site of the previous demonstration, not far from the RA President Serzh Sargsyan&#39;s residence: however, they were once again <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/23\/armenian-police-use-excessive-force-and-special-means-against-protesters-outside-presidential-residence.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">blocked by law enforcement officers in riot gear<\/span><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe demonstrators responded by staging a sit-in for the second night in a row, dragging nearby trash cans to create a barricade.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAs the night went on, the protesters were once again proposed by authorities to send a small delegation to meet with the President. They considered the offer briefly, but ultimately rejected it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOn Wednesday morning, protesters on Baghramyam Avenue declared that their demand remained the same &#8211; reversal of the decision to increase electricity rates in Armenia, and urged other citizens to come and replace those who had spent the night at the protest site.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe previous evening demonstrators were joined by several lawmakers, actors and entertainers. While on the morning of June 24, actor Hovhannes Azoyan came out to them and passed an offer of law enforcement officers to return to the Freedom Square. The protesters refused the offer, stating they were in a more &ldquo;favorable position&rdquo; on Baghramyam Avenue. Despite Azoyan&#39;s attempts to convince the people that a favorable position could be achieved in Freedom Square as well, the people refused to leave.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&ldquo;Don&#39;t you send anyone else here!&rdquo; they shouted to police.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Late on June 22, after a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/?p=266054\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">three-day sit-in<\/span><\/a> at Freedom Square in central Yerevan, protesters against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/17\/armenian-protesters-throw-eggs-at-psrc-office-after-commission-decides-to-increase-electricity-tariff-by-nealy-7-drams.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">the rise in electricity rates<\/span><\/a> in Armenia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/en\/2015\/06\/22\/armenian-police-block-march-towards-presidential-palace-as-citizens-march-against-hike-in-electricity-tariff.html\"><span style=\"color:#0000FF;\">tried to march<\/span><\/a> toward Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan&rsquo;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.<\/em><\/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>As the night went on, the protesters were once again proposed by authorities to send a small delegation to meet with the President. They considered the offer briefly, but ultimately rejected it&#8230;<!-- 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":266247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12974,34940,10463,56330,12928,50560,50559,12350,57755],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266255"}],"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=266255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}