#ElectricYerevan: Passions heat up over dustbins
“Let them [police] remove their technique from Baghramyan Avenue and let us continue our peaceful protest. Let them take away their armed forces and we shall return them their dustbins,” say protesters who continue to hold their ground on Baghramyan Avenue. This came after an investigator came to the avenue and said the relevant company wants its dustbins back and called on protesters to return the dustbins used as barricades on the protest venue. On Monday morning Deputy Chief of the Yerevan Police Valeri Osipyan talked to reporters and reiterated that by continuing the street blockade the demonstration known as #ElectricYerevan “violates the rules of co-existence”. In the meantime, citizens demand that all policemen, who used force against demonstrators on June 23 to break up the protest against rising electricity prices, be made accountable. Opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan said he would talk to lawyers in connection with the decision to confiscate the dustbins. During the whole day on Sunday, police warned the protesters to unblock Baghramyan Avenue and leave the area, threatening to restore public order. At about 10:30pm, Osipyan toured the protest site, checking dustbins and claiming that some in the crowd were carrying explosive devices and that there were “numerous drunken citizens” among the protesters. Also, on Sunday evening, the No To Plunder initiative that spearheaded the movement to stop the increase in electricity tariffs said they accepted Serzh Sargsyan’s compromise plan to defuse crisis and urged demonstrators to unblock the avenue. The initiative took its supporters to Liberty Square to continue the rally there, while majority of protesters remained on the avenue that passes the Presidential Palace in capital Yerevan. As tensions grew on Baghramyan Avenue, several lawmakers, showbiz representatives and other public figures formed a “human shield” between the protesters and the police. Eventually, the police withdrew a considerable force from the avenue, letting the protesters spend another night there. Late on Sunday, the United States Embassy expressed concern over the 'tense situation' in downtown Yerevan. It urged “all sides to display peaceful, restrained behavior befitting democratic values” in a Twitter post.
