Oppositionist blasts police for unlawful detentions of protesters in Yerevan

Panorama
Armenia – May 16 2022

Lawyer Arsen Babayan, a senior member of the opposition Homeland Party, has denounced Armenia’s riot police for unlawful detentions of opposition protesters in Yerevan on Monday morning.

Homeland Party chief secretary Khachik Galstyan, other party members and opposition activists were illegally detained while holding peaceful car protests in the capital and completely paralyzing traffic on all major roads leading to the city, he said.

“The police took unprecedented illegal actions: they dragged drivers out of their cars and detained them unlawfully, with the cars left on the streets,” Babayan wrote on Telegram, stressing the drivers did not commit any violations.

“Resorting to such illegalities, the police, in fact, restricted the constitutional right of people to hold peaceful assemblies,” the lawyer said, urging international organizations to respond to it.