OPPOSITION PROTESTERS DETAINED

AZG Armenian Daily
28/08/2008

Local

Police detained several young men at the scene of an ongoing
opposition sit-in in Yerevan on Tuesday as they sought to prevent
its participants from placing new anti-government posters and other
agitation material there. All of them were released later in the day,
"Azatutyun" radio-station reported. The police used force on Monday to
remove stands with pictures of detained oppositionists and opposition
posters from a section of the city’s upscale Northern Avenue where
dozens of supporters of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian have been
camped since early July. Law-enforcement officials cited complaints
lodged by the owners of street buildings and shops. Eyewitnesses told
RFE/RL that riot police detained at least four opposition supporters
on the spot after discovering pro-Ter-Petrosian graffiti painted
on the floor. "Three of our young men have just been dragged away,
and another ran away. I don’t know if they caught him," one of the
protesters, Yelizaveta Tarverdian, said, crying. "How can they do
this?" "We asked the police to explain why they are taking away the
guys but there was no reply," she said. Colonel Aghasi Kirakosian,
deputy chief of Yerevan’s police department, explained the detentions
as he spoke with protesters shortly afterwards. "We must clarify who
wrote this," he said, pointing to the "Levon president!" inscription
written on the pedestrian boulevard’s tiled floor. "Why should this
section of Northern Avenue not be clean?" said Kirakosian. "So clean
this up and we’ll clarify things and free the lads."