Nouvelles arrestations

OPPOSITION PROTESTERS DETAINED

Police detained several young men at the scene of an ongoing opposition sit-in in Yerevan on Tuesday as they sought to prevent its participants from placing new anti-government posters and other agitation material there. All of them were released later in the day, "Azatutyun" radio-station reported. The police used force on Monday to remove stands with pictures of detained oppositionists and opposition posters from a section of the city’s upscale Northern Avenue where dozens of supporters of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian have been camped since early July. Law-enforcement officials cited complaints lodged by the owners of street buildings and shops. Eyewitnesses told RFE/RL that riot police detained at least four opposition supporters on the spot after discovering pro-Ter-Petrosian graffiti painted on the floor. "Three of our young men have just been dragged away, and another ran away. I don’t know if they caught him," one of the protesters, Yelizaveta Tarverdian, said, crying. "How can they do this?" "We asked the police to explain why they are taking away the guys but there was no reply," she said. Colonel Aghasi Kirakosian, deputy chief of Yerevan’s police department, explained the detentions as he spoke with protesters shortly afterwards. "We must clarify who wrote this," he said, pointing to the "Levon president!" inscription written on the pedestrian boulevard’s tiled floor. "Why should this section of Northern Avenue not be clean?" said Kirakosian. "So clean this up and we’ll clarify things and free the lads."

http://www.azg.am/EN/2008082802

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