Epress.am News from Armenia
After four youth were taken away in police vehicles, opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) youth continued their still-ongoing protest in front of the Golden Tulip Hotel Yerevan. A number of officers have surrounded the protestors; also in the area is chief of Armenia’s Police Patrol Service (PPS) Robert Melkonyan.
Asked by a journalist why police attacked peaceful protestors, Melkonyan said:
“They’re quiet now because they’re few,” he said, recalling that during the Oct. 19 rally, Armenian National Congress representatives were quite lively near the Matenadaran (Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts).
“They will increase [in number, and] we will see,” said the police chief, not quite responding to the journalist’s question. Note that Melkonyan was not present during the skirmish between police and protestors.
Recall that around 10 am this morning, according to journalists and activists on the scene, police attacked activists and began to confiscate and destroy their signs. The youth lay down on the ground, while officers, pushing and pulling, detained four youth — Sargis Gevorgyan, Areg Gevorgyan, Vahagn Gevorgyan and Sargis Khachatryan — by forcing them into police vehicles and driving away from the scene.
As told to Epress.am by Sargis Gevorgyan’s sister, journalist Ani Gevorgyan, her brother has already called her from the police station and told her that the detained youth are being assaulted by the police.