Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian civic activist Vardges Gaspari was taken into police custody late Monday as he was heading home from a rally at the Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan against the hike in Armenian electricity rates. He was held at the Kentron police station for nearly 3 hours, Gaspari said, adding police did not inform him of reasons for his detention.
“I was at the rally in the Freedom Square. As I was heading home, I saw that police officers had formed a human wall at the intersection of Mashtots Avenue and Tumanyan Street. I guess, they expected me to change my route, which I did not do – I went right through their wall. I had walked quite a bit on Tumanyan when they finally detained me. I was released from custody at around 2 AM. They took me out of the station and dumped me in the landfill near the [Republican Stadium],” Gaspari said in an interview with Epress.am.
Note, several hundred citizens protesting against the rise in electricity rates rallied at the Freedom Square Monday evening, hours after Armenian police dispersed their continuous sit-in on central Baghramyam Avenue. Demonstrators wanted to once again organize a march toward the RA Presidential Residence but they were prevented from doing so by law enforcement officers.