This picture taken on June 24 shows demonstrators in front of a line of riot police during a protest in Yerevan against an increase of electricity prices.
AFP
Yerevan
Armenian authorities threatened yesterday to forcefully break up a protest against rising electricity prices and police brutality after the president announced concessions in a bid to calm tensions.
Thousands of demonstrators were expected to take to the streets of the capital Yerevan after President Serzh Sarkisian’s promise that the government would shoulder the burden of a controversial hike in electricity prices failed to appease the activists.
Police threatened to break up the rallies which grew out of dissatisfaction with rising electricity prices and have since morphed into a broader protest movement in a country already hit hard by the economic crisis in Russia.
After police dispersed a rally with water cannon in the small hours of Tuesday and arrested nearly 240 people, new demands sprang up, with protesters now calling on the authorities to punish police.
Activists have called on ordinary Armenians to take to the streets late in the evening to decide on the further strategy of the movement.
“If people do not accept the proposal to restore public order on Bagramyan Avenue then it will be us who will restore it,” senior police officer Valery Osipyan told reporters.
He said many residents had complained about the noise and rubbish on the streets.
Crowds have been taking to the streets of the capital Yerevan since June 19 to protest against a planned 16% hike in electricity prices from August in the largest anti-government demonstrations the ex-Soviet nation of 3.2mn has seen in years.
Under pressure to end the unrest, President Sarkisian said the Armenian power distribution company would be audited and could even be nationalised.
The company is owned by a Moscow-based state holding which is controlled by a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Chanting “Victory!” and dancing, some 10,000 people rallied near the presidential palace on Saturday, blocking traffic on the city’s main thoroughfare.
“We will continue our fight,” one of the activists, Vaginak Shushanyan, told a cheering crowd.
The protests have been organised by a non-partisan group called “No to Robbery” with the hashtag #ElectricYerevan gaining traction on social media.
Protesters insist their rallies are not political but some demonstrators have expressed admiration for Ukraine’s popular uprising dubbed the Maidan that ousted a Moscow-backed government last year.
“Mad love & respect for #Maidan,” activist Babken DerGrigorian said on Twitter. “Dear Ukrainian allies: #maidan & #ElectricYerevan are partners. Share vision of a better tomorrow.”
Sarkisian said that the government would go ahead with the tariff hike but would temporarily cover the costs of the increase.
“Annulling the tariff raise is extremely dangerous,” he said.
“If an audit confirms that the tariff raise is justified, consumers will start paying according to a new price,” the president warned.
