One of the gunmen locked in a two-week stand-off in a police station in the Armenian capital Yerevan shot an officer dead on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
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Due to the consistent and coordinated actions, the authorized law-enforcement bodies have forced the armed group to lay down arms and surrender to the authorities.
Security forces exchange fire with protesters backing opposition group holding hostages in a police building in Yerevan.
Hundreds took to the central streets of the Armenian capital on learning about the decision of the group that seized the Yerevan police compound to surrender.
The men originally took nine people hostage but released them within the first week.They then took four doctors hostage, eventually releasing them too.Two police officers were killed during the standoff.
About 20 of the 31-strong gang that seized the police station remained inside until Sunday evening.
There were also gun battles between police and this group on Friday.
Al Jazeera’s Robin Forestier-Walker, reporting from Yerevan, said that the gunmen said that the protesters vowed to continue their struggle after it was announced by the security services that the armed men had been arrested.
The armed group seized the police station in the Erebuni district of Yerevan on July 17, taking several police officers hostage, while killing one in the process.
“They are chasing us and trying to arrest everyone in sight”, he said, adding that he witnessed dozens of protesters injured and detained at the scene. This was denied on Sunday by a leading member of the group inside the station.
At least 60 people were injured and more than 100 arrests were reported on Friday. At the same time, during sporadic shootouts during the two-weeks, several “Daredevils” members were wounded and taken to the hospital.
Another reason, Avetisyan said, was that police began shooting some of his gunmen who went outside the police station.
The gunmen have demanded the release of jailed opposition politician Jirair Sefilian, accused of plotting civil unrest to force resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan.
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An Armenian Health Ministry spokeswoman said early on Saturday that a total of about 60 people were hospitalized overnight. All hostages were released on July 23 (six days into the conflict, and the day after the president’s website finally made mention of the situation).
