For several days, the opposition continues rallies near the seized police station warning the authorities against use of force to liberate hostages and arrest the armed group.
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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.
The leader of the gunmen barricaded inside the police compound, Varuzhan Avetisyan, said in a telephone interview with local media that they made a decision to surrender after security forces used armored vehicles to enter the police compound.
“Twenty terrorists were arrested”, it said. On the evening of July 30 police officer Yura Tepanisyan was killed by sniper gunfire in a police vehicle parked over 1,000 feet away from the seized police compound. On July 23, the armed group released all hostages.
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. 165 people were detained, 73 people being hospitalized.
“Three members of the armed group are inside our medical center”, the center said in a press statement.
Last week, Zara Hovhannisyan, a human-rights activist, said many protesters were beaten and held without food and water for hours after being taken to police regiments not designed as detention centres.
1986) was killed by sniper gun fire while sitting in a police auto parked over a 1,000 feet away from the seized police compound.
Police used batons, stun grenades and smoke bombs to break up the demonstration in support of the gunmen, who are still holding two medics.
Police officers detain a supporter of the armed group who have been holding a police station in Yerevan, Armenia, July 29, 2016. “Meanwhile we will decide what to do”, Baghdasaryan said. They are demanding freedom for an opposition figure arrested in June.
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“President Serzh Sargsyan who has become increasingly unpopular here due to all sorts of problems with the country’s economy, widespread corruption and a war with Azerbaijan earlier this year in which Armenia lost territory in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region”.
