CENTRAL SQUARE IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL STILL CORDONED OFF BY POLICE

168 Zham
March 25 2008
Armenia

You are not allowed to walk?

Freedom Square remains cordoned off by the police even four or five
days after the state of emergency [which was effective in Yerevan
on 1-20 March] was lifted. Some people who come close to Freedom
Square are brought to police stations. Some people who participated in
"political strolls" on the approaches to Freedom Square were brought
to police stations yesterday [24 March] at about 1800 [1400 gmt].

A young man brought to a police station was just sitting on a bench
in Northern Avenue [in the vicinity of Freedom Square]. A 70-year-old
female witness told A1plus media that this young man told the police
that he was a priest and that he did not pursue any political goals,
but the police did not pay any attention to his words.

Incidentally, cameramen walked together with the police and recorded
the faces of participants in the protest. Yesterday the police warned
the several hundred people who were walking in Northern Avenue that
the "march" was not authorized and gradually dispersed them without
clashes.

The former national security chief [and a member of the Armenian
Pan-National Movement led by former presidential candidate Levon
Ter-Petrosyan], Davit Shahnazaryan, was invited to the Kentron
department of the Yerevan Police yesterday morning. The police had
cautioned him the day before when Shahnazaryan went for a walk in
Northern Avenue. He described what happened to him as political
persecution. Shahnazaryan was kept at the police station for 30-40
minutes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress