More hungers strikes, protests and arrests on Northern Boulevard

09 September 2008
Հարձակում Հյուսիսային պողոտայի վրա (HIMA) (timeline of events)

ՀԱՐՁԱԿՈՒՄ ՀՅՈՒՍԻՍԱՅԻՆ ՊՈՂՈՏԱՅՈՒՄ (Payqar) (some specifics and interpretation)

Both of the above announcements refer to events which occurred at night, September 9th, on Northern Boulevard. It seems 6 people had started an open-ended hungerstrike on September 9th on Northern Boulevard, demanding the release of the political prisoners.

At around 10pm, a special division of the Police attacked these protesters, and forcibly arrested at least 5 women and 2 men, among whom were a Belgian citizen and his wife. Vladimir Karapetyan, foreign policy spokesman for the Armenian National Congress, was among those taken. At that time, Northern Boulevard remained surrounded, and people were starting to gather around the statue of Arno Babajanyan.

At 11:40 pm, the special forces were still forcibly removing people from the Northern Boulevard area. After that, people started to gather near the District Hall of Kentron.

At 11:55 pm, all of those arrested were release, either from nearby the entrance to the Police station, or from another cross-road.