Police Chief Makes Offensive Remarks Towards Citizens

The police are operating within the law. Urge the Father to ask the people to behave normally. This was stated by Police Chief Aram Hovhannisyan during a conversation with journalists regarding the detention of participants in the civil disobedience movement.

In response to the question about police stating that they give a reasonable time of 30 seconds, but that they do not allow this time to elapse and are detaining citizens who are simply standing on the sidewalk, he replied, “No standing citizen has been taken unnecessarily. They close off the area with cameras, and then rush in like rogues, so what should we do?”

When asked why he makes this assessment, he said, “What can I do, the rights of others are being restricted; they do not allow people to go to the hospital or to work, this is unacceptable.”

As for the number of those detained, Hovhannisyan stated that he could not specify, but noted that it is significant.

It should be noted that peaceful civil disobedience actions began early in the morning at the call of Bishop Bagrat. Citizens have closed several streets. The situation is tense in some parts of the capital, with clashes occurring between the red berets and participants of the movement. As of now, there are detained citizens, including MP Arthur Sargsyan.

The police informed Tert.am that as of 10:10, there are 196 detained citizens.