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REPEAT PERFORMANCE: SMALL GROUP OF OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS CLASH (AGAIN) WITH POLICE AT OPERA HOUSE
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
01.06.10 | 13:40
News
About 100 opposition demonstrators again clashed with law enforcement
Monday afternoon at the newly-reopened Freedom Square (Opera House).
About 20 demonstrators were taken into custody. Fifteen were members
of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and three were oppositionist
newspaper reporters.
Police had asked the crowd to take it demonstration to another
location, leaving the popular area for cafe guests, late afternoon
strollers and children who use the grounds for bicycling and
rollerblading.
"They [police officers] were pushing people without differentiating
girls-women; they were beating people and jostling them," Lilit
Tadevosyan, of 'Hayk' daily, who was taken to the Police Office,
told ArmeniaNow.
Demonstrators taken into custody were released later, except for
one female reporter accused of hitting a police officer and two men
charged with hooliganism.
On Monday, Robert Melkonyan, Chief of Patrol Division of the RA Police,
told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the reason why public rallies
are not allowed in Freedom Square is the new underground parking.
"This area should not be crowded. [If we do not prevent it now],
later this will become a meeting scene," Melkonyan said.
Also on Monday the RA Ombudsman Office released a statement appealing
to citizens "to abstain from actions disturbing public order,"
and urging law enforcement "to act within the law while fulfilling
their duties and avoid imposing groundless restrictions on peaceful
assemblies."
From: A. Papazian
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
01.06.10 | 13:40
News
About 100 opposition demonstrators again clashed with law enforcement
Monday afternoon at the newly-reopened Freedom Square (Opera House).
About 20 demonstrators were taken into custody. Fifteen were members
of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and three were oppositionist
newspaper reporters.
Police had asked the crowd to take it demonstration to another
location, leaving the popular area for cafe guests, late afternoon
strollers and children who use the grounds for bicycling and
rollerblading.
"They [police officers] were pushing people without differentiating
girls-women; they were beating people and jostling them," Lilit
Tadevosyan, of 'Hayk' daily, who was taken to the Police Office,
told ArmeniaNow.
Demonstrators taken into custody were released later, except for
one female reporter accused of hitting a police officer and two men
charged with hooliganism.
On Monday, Robert Melkonyan, Chief of Patrol Division of the RA Police,
told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the reason why public rallies
are not allowed in Freedom Square is the new underground parking.
"This area should not be crowded. [If we do not prevent it now],
later this will become a meeting scene," Melkonyan said.
Also on Monday the RA Ombudsman Office released a statement appealing
to citizens "to abstain from actions disturbing public order,"
and urging law enforcement "to act within the law while fulfilling
their duties and avoid imposing groundless restrictions on peaceful
assemblies."
From: A. Papazian