Why Now?

UPDATE: you can hear Ghalamkaryan's interview with RFE/RL from April 11, at 7pm (19:00) here. The interview is from about4:20 to 6:10.

As both Unzipped and HNazarian have pointed out, and RFE and Hetq have reported, Karo Simidyan and Aramazd Ghalamkaryan had their apartments searched by police, and were taken in for questioning earlier today. Both, it seems, have been released, though Ghalamkaryan's computer is still being questioned, and he has to return for further questioning on the 17th of this month. As per the Hetq article, Mr. Simidyan's son is said to be friends with Pashinyan, as is Ghalamkaryan, who runs his own pro-opposition blog (aramazd.livejournal.com).

I wonder why this is happening now. Pashinyan has been on the run for over a year, and his writings have been published for just as long. Interestingly, there was another first the other day when among those taken in for questioning to the police station was Levon Zurabyan - who is usually the one negotiating with the police. Tensions seem to be rising, but why now? Is it the upcoming demonstration on May 1, the Mayoral elections on May 31? Is the persistence of protesters on Northern Ave striking just the wrong cord with the authorities?
Maybe it means something that the first four stories on RFE/RL (in Armenian) on 11 April were the following:

1.The Apartments of Nikol Pashinyan's Friends are Searched
2.R. Erdogan "The Kharabagh problem has to be solved first"
3.S. Sargsyan "The ball is in Turkey's Court"
4.L. Zurabyan "The key to success is activism"

Things just don't seem to be going the way they were supposed to for Sargsyan and Co. Or maybe Sargsyan was just playing a game with Turkey, and border talks, and Genocide talks, and he never took any of it seriously other than for show, just like he has been playing a game with Armenia, and (supposedly) caring about the people of Armenia has been a charade.

Regardless of what is causing these new patterns, something seems different, and its still not clear why SS decided this was the time to make a more publicly visible search for Pashinyan, if that's what it is.
What it definitely is, is intimidation. As is taking in Zurabyan, who is generally seen as the negotiator and peacemaker at the demonstrations, as is what the authorities did tonight: taking 4 minors in for questioning from Northern Ave while not allowing them attorneys - who were forced to wait outside. The a1plus report states they were taken around 8pm, 2 were released around 10pm and the other 2 around 1am.

How do you remind people that you're in control? You strike at the young, the old, and the peaceful; at those who keep the fire burning and those who spread the news.