ARMENIAN POLICE CONTINUE TO ARREST PARTICIPANTS IN OPPOSITION STROLLS

Aravot
March 28 2008
Armenia

The Armenian police continued to arrest people participating in
"peaceful strolls" in Yerevan’s Northern Avenue on 27 March, the
Armenian daily Aravot reported on 28 March. Opposition supporters
continued their peaceful protests after the authorities lifted a
20-day state of emergency introduced following the dispersal on 1
March of the opposition rally demanding cancellation of the results
of the 19 February presidential elections.

About 20 passers-by, intellectuals and political activists were taken
to police stations on 27 March, and most of them were released by
2300 local time (1900 gmt), Aravot reported. Many participants in
the stroll, who were taken to police stations on 26 March, returned
to Northern Avenue with their relatives on 27 March, the newspaper
added. For instance, the father of opposition Heritage Party MP Armen
Martirosyan who was taken to a police station on 26 March, participated
in a stroll with his relatives on 27 March, the newspaper said.

A well-known Armenian poet and journalist, Tigran Paskevichyan, was
also taken to a police station on 27 March. Aravot quoted the poet as
saying that policemen asked him whether he was the author of the poem
"Prisons are filled with light again" and suggested that he should be
working as an electrician in jail. A senior member of the New Times
Party, Hrachya Sargsyan, was also among those who were taken to a
police station on 27 March, Aravot said.

The police have changed their tactics and instead of taking people to
the Kentron (Centre) Police Department in central Yerevan, they take
them to police departments on the outskirts of the city, the newspaper
said. The police continue to arrest even women and passers-by who make
remarks when they see the police taking other people away, Aravot said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress