Police disperse Yerevan protesters after violent night July 21, 2016 - 10:37 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Police in Yerevan on Thursday, July 21 dispersed protesters after detaining dozens of others following a night of violent clashes over a four-day hostage standoff. The armed group that seized a police HQ and took everyone inside hostage are members of the Sasna Tsrer movement. One police officer was killed, and three more were wounded in a shootout that broke as the members of the group hit the gates of the police department with a Ural track. Several captives have been set free so far.The hostages include Armenia's deputy police chief General Major Vardan Eghiazaryan and Yerevan deputy police chief Colonel Valeri Osipyan.The group demand the release of Jirair Sefilian, the founder of the Founding Parliament who was arrested on June 20, as he and a group of people had planned to seize premises and communication facilities, including the Yerevan TV tower. At least 51 people, including 25 police were wounded Wednesday night, the health ministry said, after stone-throwing protesters attacked officers deployed outside the seized police building. Police in turn, fired tear gas into the crowd. The protest continued into the early hours of Thursday as some 2,000 protesters built barricades in front of the cordons of the police. Early in the morning, riot police dispersed the crowd beating and arresting scores of demonstrators. At least 15 opposition politicians from the moderate Civil Contract party were arrested, the party leader, MP Nikol Pashinyan, told journalists. Top stories David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. U.S. believes peace is “possible” in South Caucasus The United States continues to believe that peace is possible in the South Caucasus, Vedant Patel said. |