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    Emil Lazarian
  • 4 years ago
    • Categories: 2022

No evidence of violence against police by protesters in Yerevan clashes, lawyer says

Panorama
Armenia – June 4 2022

There is no evidence that opposition protesters used violence against police officers during clashes in Yerevan late on Friday, human rights activist Ruben Melikyan said.

Dozens were injured in the wake of the skirmishes that erupted after demonstrators attempted to break through a police cordon near Nikol Pashinyan’s official residence in central Yerevan. Police officers used stun grenades and detained scores of protesters.

“There is no single footage of protesters using violence against police officers. Whereas, there is a lot of footage of police violence against protesters,” Melikyan wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

“There is footage showing how police officers throw stun grenades at other policemen,” he added.

The lawyer denounced “mass unrest” charges against protesters. He said around 12 demonstrators, some of whom had been brutally assaulted, were arrested.

Melikyan highlighted that no police officer responsible for the violence was arrested.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS