Davit Petrosyan, a member of the YSU “Restart” initiative and his attorney Arax Melkonyan ar at Nor Nork Police Department, and are not allowed to leave the Nor Nork Police Department.
His advocate informed about this. This morning, Davit Petrosyan was detained on suspicion of committing administrative offense.
YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Three police officers have been injured in the brief clash with opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan’s crowd in Baghramyan Avenue, Yerevan. The officers have been hospitalized in the Nairi Medical Center.
“We can’t assess the condition of one officer right now because he is currently in the operating room. His condition is worse than the other two. He had fragmentation wounds,” Nairi Medical Center executive Anatoly Gnuni told reporters.
Gnuni said opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan suffered injuries only to his wrists. Gnuni also added that Pashinyan doesn’t require a hospital stay and he can leave whenever he wants because he has been treated.
Earlier, opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan and his crowd of supporters escalated the situation in Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan.
Pashinyan led his followers from France Square to the beginning of the Baghramyan Avenue, mentioning he “wants to go the parliament, his working place”.
Along with other opposition MPs from the Yelk faction, Pashinyan intended to breach the police line. Deputy chief of the Yerevan Police Department Valery Osipyan negotiated with the MPs and agreed to allow the opposition lawmakers to head to the parliament.
However, Pashinyan began shouting that he will not go alone and that his supporters must also go through the lines.
Despite numerous calls from the police to maintain order, Pashinyan climbed onto the steel barricade, which led to a chaotic situation.
The crowd began lifting the barricades and using them against officers.
A brawl began between protesters and police officers. At one point the MP and his supporters even climbed on a vehicle. The situation drastically escalated.
Police forces installed a barbed wire across the street and smoke was briefly seen on the scene.
Yerevan police issued a statement demanding opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan to cease the rally in the city. In case of failure to comply within a reasonable period of time, police said they will disperse the rally with special measures and force.
“Public order has been grossly violated as a result of the violent actions of protesters of the rally led by you in Baghramyan Avenue.
All warnings, demands and other restrictive actions of the police are no longer effective, thus, under Article 33 of the law on assembly, police are demanding from you to cease the rally.
In case of your absence from the location of the rally or failure to comply with the demand within a reasonable period of time, police will disperse the rally using force and special measures,” the police said in a statement addressed to opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan.
English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. A police officer warned the participants of the rally gathered at the France Square that the protesters throw different items at the police forces. “Some protestors throw different items at the police forces. Move them away otherwise the Police will take measures to ensure order”, the police officer said.
In response, one of the organizers of the rally, MP Ararat Mirzoyan noted those people have already been moved away.
Afterwards, Nikol Pashinyan said that their rally is peaceful, and urged the participants of the rally not to throw anything at the police and to withdraw a little from the barbed wires.
Earlier, the police issued a statement demanding Nikol Pashinyan to stop the protest. In case of failing to meet the demands the Police will disperse the rally using force and special means.
English –translator/editor:Tigran Sirekanyan
Head Coach of the team Levon Julfalakyan told Mediamax Sport that they found reasonable to send to the championship those athletes who are the most prepared at the moment.
“We are already holding a training camp in Yerevan, which is the last before the European Championship. Earlier we trained in Belarus, where around 90 athletes from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Latvia gathered,” Julfalakyan said.
The athletes to participate in the European Championship are Armen Melikyan (60kg), Slavik Galstyan (63kg), Karen Aslanyan (67kg), Karapet Chalyan (77kg), Maksim Manukyan (87kg), Artur Shahinyan (85 kg), Artur Aleksanyan (97kg).
New York, USA, Apr 16 (Notimex) .- The Armenian Azat Hovannisyan said that it would be an error of the Mexican Rey Vargas to think that he will have a simple fight, this when the faces look for the super bantamweight title of the World Boxing Council (WBC) ).
“I’ve been a challenger before and I have two losses but they were at the beginning of my career, it would be a mistake to underestimate me,” he warned.
He recalled that in his “last fight was not the favorite and I beat the contender Ronny Rios, broke all bets and want to do it again.”
He also stressed that he has studied well the style of the Mexican boxer, after he has seen the faces with a dozen fighters of that nationality.
“In my career I have faced ten Mexicans, I know their style well and the only thing I have in mind is to be a world champion, I do not plan to miss this great opportunity and I want to give another big surprise,” he said.
“Crazy A” Hovannisyan will face Vargas, who will be exhibiting for the third time the 122-pound World Boxing Council title on May 12 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.
Armenian Genocide Monument in Nicosia
The Armenian community in Cyprus will mark 103 years since the 1915 genocide by Turkey with a series of events in the coming week.
On Friday, April 20, at 11am, the Representative of the Armenian Community in the House of Representatives will address the plenary session of the House. The Session will be open to the public and will be broadcast live by CyBC 2 TV channel and CyBC’s 1st radio programme.
On Saturday April 21, from 3pm to 6pm, a blood drive will be organised at the Armenian Primary School NAREK in memory of the victims of the genocide.
On Tuesday, April 24, the anniversary date, at 5pm, a youth march will take place, which will start from Makarios Avenue parking lot across from the Zena Kanther Building, which will head to Armenias Street by 7pm to meet up with other members of the community.
The marchers will then head for the Monument of the Armenian Genocide at the Armenian Church, where at 7:30pm there will be a Memorial Event, with the main speaker House President, Demetris Syllouris. Also attending the event will be the Armenian Archbishop of Cyprus and the representative of the Armenian Community in the House of Representatives, Vartkes Mahdessian.
A recent report published by Global Net – Stop the Arms Trade (GN-STAT) found that Berlin can be viewed as an accomplice in the Armenian genocide, as many weapons used by the Ottoman Empire came from Germany. Radio Sputnik discussed the issue with French researcher Georges Estievenart.
Not only did Germany supply weapons to the Ottoman Empire that were used against Armenians, but it also laid “ideological foundations” for the genocide, political analyst Georges Estievenart told Sputnik.
“Even if Germany did not think about genocide, in particular against Armenians, at that time, its assistance to the Ottoman Empire, however, was not limited to a successful trade deal on the supply of weapons,” the researcher noted.
According to the analyst, Germany was striving “to teach the Ottomans their concept of conducting military operations” during a conflict.
READ MORE: Israeli Parliament Votes Against Bill Recognizing Genocide of Armenians
The idea was that “it is not enough to win military battles, sometimes you need to go further and completely destroy the ‘enemy.’ The totalitarian military theories that already existed in Germany were later applied by Hitler,” Estievenart said.
In his opinion, the report can’t be considered sensational, as in the resolution adopted by the Bundestag on May 31, 2016, Germany recognized its historical responsibility for the genocide.
Still, the report is quite useful as it presents several testimonies from the time, in particular those of the Prussian military, who were involved in the preparation and commissioning of war crimes, the expert said.
“This once again confirms that there was a very strong alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire […]. Thanks to the report, we’ve also learned that Germany exerted strong pressure in order to derive from this political alliance benefits for the German economy via arms supplies,” the analyst concluded.
READ MORE: Dutch Lawmakers Recognize Armenian Genocide, Foreign Ministry to Await Debate
In 2016 the German parliament, the Bundestag, formally recognized the Armenian genocide, sparking an angry reaction from Turkey, whose Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus called it a “historic mistake.”
Around 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1917, something Turkey has consistently denied being a genocide, saying those who perished were simply collateral damage and not part of any deliberate effort to annihilate them.
The views and opinions expressed by Georges Estievenart are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik’s position.
Armenia’s former president Serzh Sargsyan was elected prime minister on April 17 in a move the opposition says is designed to extend his chokehold on power despite protests in the impoverished country.
Lawmakers backed the candidacy of the Kremlin-supported veteran politician with 77 to 17 votes, after his second and final term as president ended last week.
The opposition denounced the vote – which makes Sargsyan Armenia’s top leader under a new parliamentary system of government – saying the 63-year-old lacked popular support.
Earlier in the day, several thousand demonstrators marched through the center of the capital Yerevan and staged sit-in protests outside government buildings.
Protesters blockaded the entrances to about a dozen government buildings, including those housing the foreign ministry and the central bank.
Ahead of the vote, Sargsyan blamed the opposition for rocking the boat.
“Extinct volcanoes should not wake up if we want to live in a prosperous Armenia, in a country of the rule of law. And volcanoes will not wake up if no one provokes them.”
Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan urged Armenians to take to the streets en mass.
“I proclaim today the start of a peaceful velvet revolution in Armenia,” he told a rally in Yerevan earlier in the day, calling on supporters to “paralyze the work of all government agencies.”
Rallies were also held in the country’s second- and third-largest cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor. Police said 14 demonstrators were briefly detained.
On April 16 police used stun grenades as protesters sought to break through a barbed wire cordon in the center of Yerevan in an effort to get to the parliament building.
Authorities said 46 people including six police and opposition leader Pashinyan required medical help. Sargsyan, a shrewd former military officer, has been in charge of the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9 million since winning a presidential vote in 2008.
“I proclaim today the start of a peaceful velvet revolution in Armenia,” opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan told a rally in Yerevan, calling on supporters to “paralyze the work of all government agencies,” as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Protesters blockaded the entrances to government buildings housing the foreign ministry and the central bank, among others, and rallies were also held in the provincial towns of Gyumri and Vanadzor. The protesters vandalized government property, including deflating the tires of official vehicles, state media reported. Authorities earlier said that only several protesters were detained.
The opposition says the new parliamentary system of government will allow Sargsyan to maintain a huge influence and extend his time in power. Sargsyan left the presidency this year upon reaching his term limit. Opposition members have decried changes to the constitution that will increase the incoming prime minister’s powers.
“I am standing here today as a leader of the party which can ensure a harmonious cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of power,” he told lawmakers ahead of the vote.
The ruling Republican party nominated Sargsyan, who served as president for a decade from 2008, as its candidate for prime minister on Saturday.
Sargsyan’s ally Armen Sarkissian, a former prime minister and ambassador to Britain, was sworn in as president last week after being elected by parliament in a vote that was meant to herald the start of a power shift to the premier and parliament.
Under the terms of an amended constitution approved in 2015 by a referendum, the presidency will become largely ceremonial.
The Dashnaktsutyun Party, the Republicans’ coalition ally, also backs Sargsyan’s candidacy, meaning he should easily secure the simple majority needed for election. No other candidates are running. Sargsyan had denied any intention of becoming premier until March, when he said his appointment would allow him to share the benefit of his experience as president.
Armenia, a country of 3 million people in the Southern Caucasus, seceded in 1991 from the then Soviet Union but still relies on Russia for aid and investment. Many Armenians accuse the government of corruption and mismanaging the economy.