Two Groups Attack Police Officers in Kotayk Region

An extraordinary incident occurred on July 18 in the Kotayk region, where gunfire erupted and the participants in the brawl did not obey the police's legal demands and attacked them.

According to Shamshyan.com, around midnight, operational information was received at the Kotayk division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia that two different groups had gathered on the right side of the road leading from Mayakovski village to Dzoraghbyur to settle their disputes, and they might be armed with pistols and submachine guns, which the participants could use in the brawl.

The police confirmed that the received operational information was credible. Over 100 individuals were loudly arguing and shouting obscenities at the mentioned location.

The police approached them and demanded that they cease their arguments, after which some of them attacked the police officers. Following this, the head of the Kotayk division, Ayvazyan, fired three warning shots into the air with a submachine gun registered at the Kotayk division, while being approximately 100-150 meters away from the police staff and the brawl participants.

After the shots were fired, the citizens attacked and assaulted the police officers. Among those assaulting the police was Aghvan Tadevosyan, who got into a "VAZ 2121" vehicle and attempted to flee. However, the division chief caught the vehicle's still-open door to prevent him from escaping, but A. Tadevosyan drove off, leading to a situation in which the division chief fell from the vehicle after about 20 meters of driving.

Due to the strikes from participants Aharon Tadevosyan and Edgar Vardanyan, the head of the Garni police division, H. Atabekyan, sustained injuries, and E. Ayvazyan, the head of the Kotayk division, was injured due to A. Tadevosyan’s driving of the "VAZ 2121" vehicle.

Eventually, police officers managed to detain E. Vardanyan, M. Hakobyan, as well as participants Samvel Arakelyan, Gagik Harutyunyan, Sasha Arakelyan, and Tigran Tevosyan, who had used violence. Reports indicate that both the head of the Kotayk division and the head of the Garni division were taken to the Abovyan Medical Center.

The detained individuals have been arrested, and criminal proceedings have been initiated in the Abovyan investigative division of the Kotayk regional investigative department of the RA Investigative Committee regarding the incident.