Journalist: It was a night of legal unlawfulness

Ani Hovhannisyan, a detained journalist of Hetq.am, says that last night was a night of legal unlawfulness because the police violated the law in every possible and impossible way.   

The journalist says that her friend, her sister and she were forcibly taken to the police station, but after a few hours of negotiations with the police they were set free. "At the police station I personally saw that the police used violence against a photographer, taking away his badge and glasses, as well as the chip from the camera. The police tore another journalist's badge, saying that in that situation the badge was worth nothing. The police treated us extremely disrespectfully and cynically," she said. She notes that she is going to apply to court though she does not trust the judiciary. "I will apply to court to prevent the judges from being idle, however, I expect nothing from the judiciary," she says. 

For his part, lawyer Grisha Balasanyan urges all those detained to bear no testimony or to give no explanations in a lawyer's absence, because their testimony will be used against them. "Today I saw a big number of "arrested" witnesses. Meanwhile, the police violated their rights to free movement," he says.  The lawyer notes that the police's actions have crossed out all the efforts towards reformation of the law- enforcement system. 

At 5:30am today, the Police dispersed the sit-down protest in front of the president's residence using special means, mainly water canons. 

Around 500 people ran towards the adjacent the Liberty Square and found themselves between the Police on the one side and the water canons on the other side. The Police detained many of the protesters using force. Among the detainees are journalists. The equipment of many media sources was damaged.  The detained journalists contacted their news offices from the police stations complaining of violent treatment.  Among them there are even injured who have been hospitalized. By different data, 237 people were detained. Part of them was set free later. 

The protests ran high in the country after the energy costs were increased by 7 drams. The people demand that the authorities revoke the decision to raise the power rate and revise the existing rate.