Standoff with Gunmen Continues as Armenian Police Crack Down on Activists
YEREVAN - The situation in the Armenian capital Yerevan remains tense as negotiations between the police and a radical armed opposition group that attacked and seized a police station in a daring raid Sunday.
The group remains barricaded inside the Erebuni District police station with four hostages that include Armenia’s Deputy Police Chief Vardan Yeghiazaryan and Yerevan’s Deputy Chief Valery Osipyan.
Armenia’s First Deputy Police Chief General Hunan Poghosyan said one police colonel was killed and two other officers were wounded during the attack.
The militants – a radical splinter group of the Himnadir Khorhrdaran (Founding Parliament) party – have demanded the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan and the release of prominent opposition leader and a noted commander during the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Jirayir Sefilyan.
Sefilyan was arrested in late June after being accused of planning an armed coup with the gunmen's leader Varujan Avetisyan.
In a video released via social media the gunmen – most of whom, including Avetisyan, are Karabakh war veterans – called on the Armenian population to organize anti-government protests and demand Sargsyan’s ouster.
National Security Service (NSS) officials – Armenia’s intelligence agency – briefly blocked access to Facebook on Sunday and police officials quickly started limiting journalists’ access to the location of the standoff. Unconfirmed reports by independent news sources in Yerevan claim that NSS officers have arrested dozens of opposition activists without explanation.
The reports also claim that several homes of civic and opposition activists in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor were raided by police units.
According to unconfirmed sources, Yerevan’s police broke up a small gathering of opposition members on the city’s central Freedom Square and detained up to 400 people. Armenia’s human rights ombudsman confirmed that 50 people arrested in connection to Sunday's events had been released.
According to a Facebook post by 17-year-old activist Shahen Harutyunyan, he and others were arrested by riot police and accused of "supporting an armed group" while demonstrating on Freedom Square.
Police sharpshooters, special-forces units and armored personnel carriers have been dispatched to the scene.
NSS officials have warned the group that it must immediately turn over the heavy weaponry seized during the original attack on the station and surrender to security services, or face the possibility of a raid.
By Karen Tovmasyan
Edited by Nicholas Waller