Police use violence against citizens gathered at City Hall

A group of citizens, including members of the Coalition to Stop Violence against Women, protested at the entrance of Yerevan City Hall yesterday. This demonstration was initiated after Republican Party members used force against female members of the “Yerkir Tsirani” faction, slapping, and beating the “Yerkir Tsirani” members Marina Khachatryan, Sona Aghekyan, and Zaruhi Postanjyan at the City Council session.

The police immediately put an end to the demonstration. The participants were forcibly removed from the entrance.

During an interview with Aravot.am, demonstration participant Arman Gharibyan said that the aim and the demand of the demonstration was that the members of the Council committing the violence refused their mandates and were brought to criminal responsibility.

The demonstrators made a joint statement at the City Hall: “We condemn what happened at City Council meeting, and demand to start a criminal prosecution against the violent members of the Council”.

As Arman Gharibyan assured, during the use of force by the police, jackets of 2 participants were torn, some of them received bodily injuries: “They grabbed someone on the throat and squeezed, pulled another’s hair. They did very unpleasant actions, just as they are used to. No one was taken to the police station. Their goal was simply to free the entrance because it was an hour when the staff of the City Hall needed to leave the workplace. But actually, we had not blocked the entrance and exit of the City Hall. It was mostly the police who had blocked the entrance, in fact, they were hindering the entrance and exit”.

According to Arman Gharibyan, demonstrators also demanded that Mayor Taron Margaryan had a meeting with them. “Because we believe that at the session of the City Council, Taron Margaryan instigated that violence himself, so we shouted, “Taron, come down”. But he did not, then we learned that he had escaped from the back door, not daring to come and look into the eyes of the citizens, listen to the opinions, answer our questions”.

Nelly BABAYAN