The government also can not be seen as going too easy on the gunmen, who killed one officer and wounded several others in the initial attack.
Advertisement
A spokesman for Armenia’s police force says three more gunmen who have been barricaded inside a police station in the capital for almost two weeks have been wounded in exchanges of gunfire.
Police look on as an opposition supporter shouts during a protest along a street next to seized police station in Yerevan, Armenia.
On Saturday night, the demonstrators marched down Baghramyan Avenue toward the main government buildings and the presidential residence, but were stopped by riot police, who strung coils of barbed wire across the road.
Earlier, the gunmen have released their last two hostages, an official said, after a fresh night of protests shook the capital Yerevan. Most were hit in the leg, but a man shot on Sunday was hit in the chest, he said.
The group demanded the resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and liberation of Jirair Sefilian, an opposition politician and founder of the New Armenia Public Salvation Front arrested over illegal arms storage.
Nevertheless, about a thousand people sympathetic to the gunmen again rallied in Yerevan’s Liberty Square and then marched through the city center in the evening.
The armed men gave themselves up a day after police warned they would storm the building to draw a line under the crisis, which had sparked at times violent demonstrations by opposition supporters in the capital Yerevan.
According to Aharonyan, the armed group that seized a police department on June 17 opened fire and killed the officer.
More than 70 people had to be taken to various hospitals to be treated for injuries including burns and broken limbs.
He also said that overnight security forces had “40 shooters lying in wait” for the assault to take back the station and if his group had resisted it would have led to “a bloodbath”.
The demonstrators blocked traffic for about two hours, but dispersed peacefully early on Sunday.
Police spokesman Ashot Agaronyan said on Facebook the policeman was in a vehicle 400 meters (yards) from the station when he was killed by sniper fire.
Advertisement
The Health Ministry said 75 people needed medical treatment and 25 of them remained in hospital on Saturday, including six law enforcement officers.
