The AP said some people – including journalists – were attacked by armed men who “appeared to be plainclothes police officers”.
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Sefilyan – the leader of a small opposition group named the New Armenia Public Salvation Front – and six of his supporters were arrested in June accused of preparing to seize government buildings and telecoms facilities in Yerevan.
Armenia’s security service had given them until 5 p.m. on Saturday to surrender and said otherwise its forces would be reserved the right to open fire without warning.
Supporters of the armed group that seized a police headquarters in Yerevan on June 17 launched another rally on Saturday, July 30.
More than 70 people had to be taken to various hospitals to be treated for injuries including burns and broken limbs.
Police also used stun grenades to drive back the opposition supporters, some of whom threw stones at the rows of riot police blocking their path.
Journalists were among those hurt and a house caught on fire in the neighbourhood, a residential area.
Two more of the gunmen barricaded inside a police station in Armenia’s capital surrendered on Sunday and one more was shot and wounded by security forces that have been gradually thinning their ranks in an effort to end the two-week-long standoff, police said. Police arrested 165 people and 26 remained in custody on Saturday, according to the AP. The investigative agency said charges have been filed against 23 people.
They had freed all of their police hostages but on Wednesday seized four medical staff who had entered the compound to treat some of their wounds, two of whom were later released. Armed members of an opposition group barricade.
Mr Sefilian, a former military commander, has criticised the government’s handling of the long-running conflict involving pro-Armenian separatists in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In a statement, the European Union judged the situation in Yerevan to be “very worrying”.
“We urge the Armenian government to take immediate steps to prevent a repeat of last night’s actions”, the embassy added.
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“I call on all those concerned to immediately put an end to this risky situation and to return to open forms of negotiations”.
