Protesters renew march against electricity prices in Armenia - CAUCASUS
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Street protests in the Armenian capital against a hike in electricity prices grew on June 23 evening, with an estimated 7,000 people joining a second attempt to march toward the presidential residence even after riot police had used water cannons to forcefully disperse demonstrators.
The number of riot police also increased, and helmeted officers holding shields stood shoulder-to-shoulder to block the protesters from moving farther down the central avenue in Yerevan. The protesters stood behind large trash containers that they had placed across the road as a barricade.
There appeared to be some progress toward ending the standoff late June 23, with the protesters agreeing to appoint several representatives to meet with President Serge Sarkisian. But after a long discussion, they changed their mind.
In the early hours of June 24, the street remained full of protesters, most of them young.
Yerevan’s deputy police chief, Valery Osipyan, told the crowd that all of the nearly 240 protesters detained early June 23 had been released, one of the demonstrators’ demands.
The unrest was the most serious that Armenia has seen in years, raising concerns about political stability in the impoverished former Soviet nation, which hosts a Russian military base and is part of a Moscow-dominated economic alliance.
Russian companies control some of the most prized economic assets in Armenia, including the power grid.
The protest was triggered when an Armenian government commission agreed to raise electricity rates at the request of the power company.
Russia was closely following the protests, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said.
“Of course, we hope that in the near future the situation will be resolved in strict accordance with the law and that there will be no violations of the law,” Dmitry Peskov told journalists.