Over Ten Police Officers Injured: Criminal Case Launched Over Yesterday's Unrest

The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia has opened a criminal case regarding the mass disturbances organized and participated in front of the Government House 3 administrative building on Republic Square in Yerevan.

On May 30, 2022, the organizers of the opposition 'Resistance' movement held another gathering at France Square in Yerevan. During this event, under their direction, participants moved to the mentioned address where the ministries are located to clarify the ministers' stance regarding the issue of Artsakh being part of Azerbaijan.

In front of the Government House, opposition lawmakers attempted to enter the building, only to be informed by police officers responsible for maintaining public order that the ministers were unavailable at that moment. The organizers of the gathering called on participants to break through the police barrier and storm the building. Following this, the participants approached the barricade of police officers stationed at the entrance of Government House 3, disregarded the legal demands of the police, and began mass disturbances by pushing and physically assaulting the officers, thus breaching the barricade and causing damage to the building’s doors and windows, and entering the foyer of the building.

Afterward, the organizers announced that they would leave the mentioned area and continue their march along Republic Street towards Tigran Mets Avenue and then along Nalbandyan Street towards the intersection with Sayat Nova Avenue. By distracting the attention of the police officers, the participants of the mass disturbances, under the direction of the organizers, took various routes and ran back towards Government House 3. Again disregarding the legal demands of the police, they attempted to enter the ministries but faced a police barrier, where they physically assaulted the officers again by pulling, pushing, and hitting them.

The actions of the participants of the mass disturbances were suppressed twice due to the intervention of additional police forces that arrived at the scene, during which more than ten police officers sustained injuries, including lacerations and tears to the lower third of the right forearm, traumatic brain injuries, sternum fractures, abdominal injuries, and damage to the posterior part of the right thigh, among others.

A criminal case has been initiated under Articles 225 (parts 1 and 2) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia in response to these events. Currently, eight individuals have been arrested. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.