24 March 2008, 12:49
Spontaneous march of people dispersed by police in Armenian capital
In the evening on March 24, reinforced police units of Armenia pushed away the people who had gathered in the Severny Avenue of Yerevan, about one thousand in total.
After lifting the state of emergency on March 21, the Freedom Square continues to remain under guard by interior troops who stay round the clock here, and in the evening disperse any groups of people that may form there. The people who are squeezed away from the Freedom Square rally every day for expressing their silent protest with the post-election processes and, in particular, with the violence applied by the authorities to peaceful demonstrators on March 1, in the Severny Avenue that adjoins the Square.
Usually, a silent protest action in the form of a folk festivity starts at 6 p.m. local time and lasts for about two hours. People just walk along the Avenue or gather in small groups. Since March 21, regiments of interior troops are on duty in this central street of the capital either.
On March 24, at about 6 p.m., several policemen, acting against the eyes of the people present there, including journalists, captured and put two young men, aged 22-23, who were in the Severny Avenue, into a police car. The names of the young men are unknown so far, it is known only that one of them is a churchman, and the other one is a student.
Author: Lilit Ovanisyan, CK correspondent
