DOZENS ARRESTED AFTER ‘GANG CLASH’ IN YEREVAN

RFE/RL
Monday, 19 April 2010 17:47

Several dozen people were detained in Yerevan over the weekend after
two groups of armed men clashed in an apparent business dispute.

The extraordinary incident occurred in the city’s northern Nor-Nork
district on Saturday evening. Although it quickly turned violent,
there were no reports of multiple gunshots or major injuries suffered
by its participants.

Scores of police were quick to arrive at the scene and prevent a
further escalation of the dispute. According to the Armenian police,
55 men were detained on the sport and 36 of them were subsequently
placed under arrest. None of them was formally charged as of Monday.

"Circumstances of the incident are being clarified," the chief police
spokesman, Sayad Shirinian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. "The
investigation is continuing."

Shirinian said the investigation is being conducted under articles
of the Armenian Criminal Code dealing with "hooliganism" and illegal
arms possession. The police found and confiscated 12 pistols, he said.

Shirinian added that the "mass disturbances" were sparked by
unspecified "financial issues." Armenian media reports spoke of two
rival gangs clashing over a plot of land belonging to a well-known
Nor-Nork resident reputed to be a crime figure. According to
some reports, some gang members wore lapel pins indicating their
membership in the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), a junior partner
in the governing coalition.

Shirinian insisted, however, that none of the detained men is
affiliated with any political party or non-governmental organization.

"Those who committed hooligan acts are mainly former convicts and
drug addicts," said the police spokesman.

A senior BHK representative, Naira Zohrabian, likewise assured RFE/RL
that no member of the party led by Gagik Tsarukian, one of Armenia’s
wealthiest and most influential businessmen, was involved in the
violent standoff.

BHK activists bitterly clashed with fellow government loyalists
from President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
on several occasions in the run-up to last May’s municipal elections
in Yerevan.

The HHK on Monday also denied any involvement in what a party spokesman
called a "hooligan crime."