Armenian police use stun grenades against protesters demanding the resignation of the government

Dozens of people were injured and detained in Armenia as police threw stun grenades at protesters. This happened at a rally of the opposition movement “Tavush for the sake of the Motherland” in front of the parliament building, the Armenian service of Radio Liberty reports, UNN writes.

Details

In the evening, during the “hour of government” in the National Assembly of Armenia, protesters began to dismantle some of the barriers in front of the parliament building. In response, security forces used stun grenades against the protesters.

The Armenian Ministry of Health reports at least 55 injured, and police detained at least 98 protesters.

Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said that the police “fairly” used stun grenades against the protesters.

The Armenian police explained the use of special means by the fact that the protesters “threw bottles at the police, took away helmets and batons from the police”.

The Investigative Committee of Armenia announced the opening of a criminal case against the protesters detained by the security forces under Part 1 of Article 327 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (“Participation in mass riots”).

Context

An action of disobedience to the authorities, organized by the head of the Tavous Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, has been going on in the Armenian capital for several days. The protesters are demanding the resignation of the government headed by Nikol Pashinyan and the formation of a new cabinet.

The protests were triggered by the authorities' decision to return four villages in the Tavusky district, which were part of the Azerbaijani SSR during the Soviet era, to Azerbaijan.

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