Police Assault Operator During Protest, Claims Sevak Hakobyan

Sevak Hakobyan, the editor-in-chief of Yerevan.Today, made a Facebook post addressing the violence that transpired during the protest. He stated, “I want to briefly comment on the brutality that we experienced today. In the evening, when a scuffle broke out between the protesters and the police near the government summer residences, our live feed was lost shortly thereafter, and then the connection with our operator was severed.

During the commotion, we lost our live streaming device as the police seized the operator's camera monopod (the device on which the camera is mounted) and began using it to strike the protesters. The police were beating the protesters with that metal. I don’t know on which part of a protester’s body the device breaks. While not severely, the operator's foot was also injured. We will discuss with our lawyers the legal actions we can take concerning the police's actions. We also hope to recover our live streaming equipment.”

It is worth noting that the opposition parliamentary factions “Hayastan” and “Pativ Unem” initiated an extraordinary session of the National Assembly today, June 3, with an agenda that included a statement regarding Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations. However, the deputies from the ruling party failed to attend the session, causing its collapse. The session chairman, Alen Simonyan, announced that registration would continue until the necessary number of deputies registered, but no longer than 4 hours. The 4-hour mark passed at 20:00.

Afterward, the opposition deputies returned to France Square and marched to the government building, blocking all entrances. “No one should attempt to enter the building. We are closing all 6 entrances of the government; then I will return here, and I will voice all our demands. We are not entering into conflict with the police,” stated Sagatelian.

About three hours later, the members of the movement opened all entrances to the government and moved towards the Government House, where, according to Ishkhan Sagatelian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was located. When the protesters attempted to head toward the National Assembly, the police refused to open the way, leading to clashes between the police and the protesters. The police used brute force, even striking many protesters during their detainment.