A spokesman for Armeni.
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Investigators say 23 opposition supporters have been detained following the unrest.
Supporters of the gunmen who are holding a police headquarters in Yerevan rallied on Friday evening.
Police spokesman Ashot Agaronyan says on Facebook the gunmen were the first to open fire Friday.
The group of about 30 armed assailants seized the Yerevan police station on July 17, killing one policeman and taking several high-ranking officers hostage.
The group has demanded the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan and Sefilyan’s release and protesters have regularly gathered in the neighbourhood, voicing similar calls.
The three gunmen who were wounded sustained their injuries in a shootout earlier on Friday.
The Health Ministry said 75 people needed medical treatment and 25 of them remained hospitalized Saturday, including six law enforcement officers.
“We are giving members of the armed group until 17:00 (1300 GMT) to lay down their arms and surrender”, the Armenian national security services said in a statement. We urge the Armenian government to take immediate steps to prevent a repeat of last night’s actions and to direct the Armenian security forces to maintain order in a manner that upholds all Armenian citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly – freedoms that are guaranteed in the Armenian Constitution and are the core values of any strong and functioning democracy.
The gunmen are demanding the release of Jirair Sefilian, leader of the opposition group Founding Parliament, who was charged with illegal acquisition and possession of weapons. Also, they want the authorities to halt Karabakh negotiations fearing they are going to cede some lands around the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast to Azerbaijan. Numerous gunmen inside the police station are veterans of that war. Some of those injured were suffering from burns.
Police used stun grenades to drive back the opposition supporters, some of whom threw stones at the rows of riot police blocking their path.
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US-funded Radio Liberty said a large group of plainclothes men beat its reporters with sticks and metal bars and damaged their equipment.
