Epress.am News from Armenia
The start of a campaign to notify the public of an upcoming Armenian National Congress (HAK) rally on Mar. 1 began with a group of activists being detained by police.
HAK activists late last night attempted to paste flyers around the capital and spray-paint a stencil depicting Armenian President Serzh Sargysan and the inscription "state traitor"; however, just as they were beginning, 9 of the activists were picked up by police at around 2:30 am and taken to Kentron police division.
As told to Epress.am by one of the detained activists, Areg Gevorgyan, with such actions the police are trying to prevent the process of notifying the public about the upcoming rally.
"We were detained not having yet begun the notification [of the public], without any serious reason — supposedly the leaflets were damaging property. I am assuming the police were prepared in advance, as they were many in number. The activists likewise were great in number, but [only] 9 were detained. It's obvious that police officers will try to prevent the notifications — it's a scenario that's well-known and familiar to all," he said.
Speaking to the Epress.am correspondent, activist Vardan Harutyunyan said while writing explanatory statements at the police station one of the officers approached and asked, "Can't you have your rallies in the afternoon?"
"It turns out that we're walking on the street and they perceive that as a rally," said Harutyunyan.
The young men were subjected to administrative detention and released after 3 hours.