YEREVAN, ARMENIA – “Politically speaking, yesterday the government demonstrated its thuggish character. It was obviously not politically appropriate behavior, or behavior typical of a democracy. On the contrary, the government showed that it is not political at all, but rather that it is a government demonstrating hooligan conduct,” said Artsvik Minasyan, member of the ARF Supreme Body, and secretary of the “Hayastan” faction in Armenia’s parliament, during a briefing with journalists on June 4.
“There are about 50 cases where it is very evident from a legal perspective that police officers or criminals disguised in a police uniforms have use violence, caused obvious damage to health, even engaged in definite life-threatening behavior The law explicitly prohibits the [deployment of] police special forces to engage peaceful, non-violent rallies, and this undeniably been violated. The fact that we have witnessed the obvious actions of masked and plain-clothed people assisting police forces are manifestations and cases of explicit crime. We currently have a large number of people, including citizens and police officers, who have suffered moderate to severe injuries, and the primary culprits are these masked and plain-clothed forces,” added Minasyan.
Minasyan also noted that the police used excessively brutal force against the elderly and minors without consideration and should be held accountable.
“After those provocations [by the government], the number of [protesting] citizens in France Square has multiplied. They do not realize that the people can not be intimidated in this way,” he said.
