Pillars installed in Armenian border village of Kirants

PanARMENIAN.Net - In the Armenian village of Kirants, three border markers have been installed, and border guards stand next to them, RFE/RL’s Armenian service reports.

According to residents of the village of Kirants, three pillars installed overnight can either be border markers or signposts.

Police again blocked on Sunday the roads leading to the village in Armenia’s northern Tavush province that will be affected hardest by the Armenian government’s decision to cede several local border areas to Azerbaijan.

The village of Kirants was cordoned off as a group of opposition parliamentarians were about to visit it to again show support for local residents. A police roadblock prevented them from reaching the community that has been the epicenter of protests in Tavush sparked by the planned handover. Journalists were also banned from entering Kirants.

The lawmakers representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance argued bitterly with the chief of the provincial police department as well as officers of a special police unit sent from Yerevan. The policemen at the scene refused to give clear reasons for the ban condemned by the lawmakers as illegal.

Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said later in the afternoon that non-locals’ access to the restive village has been “temporarily restricted” out of “security and operational necessity.” It said Armenian border guards subordinate to the NSS are starting their deployment in and around Kirants.