Yerevan, police clash with protesters calling for release of national hero

The Armenian authorities have arrested dozens of people. The protesters called for the release of Jirair Sefilian, former soldier and leader of the opposition Movement Founding Parliament. Fueling the tension secret negotiations with Azerbaijan for the sale of part of Karabakh. Love of nation and desire for territorial integrity stringer than poverty.

Yerevan (AsiaNews) - The Armenian authorities have arrested dozens of people who protested (click here for video) to demand the release of a national hero. They denounced the "unfair" arrest of Jirair Sefilian, former soldier and leader of the opposition Movement Founding Parliament, while calling for the resignation of the President of the Republic Serz Azati Sargsyan for "mismanagement" of affairs.

Police launched tear gas in clashes with protesters. According to data provided by the Ministry of Health so far there are about 80 wounded, including 29 policemen and 51 civilians. However, the toll will rise in the coming hours, based on the videos that testify to the widespread police violence on social media.

According to Nigol Pashinian, MP close to the opposition, at least 15 of the activists of the movement led by Sefilian were arrested today. This morning at dawn 200 protesters blocked roads and barricaded themselves behind trenches.

Unconfirmed reports say that at least 15 thousand people arrested since the clash between the government and opposition, in consequence of the arrest of Jirair Sefilian. A Yerevan resident speaking anonymously to AsiaNews says that "anyone who takes to the streets for a walk is arrested and taken to jail as a protester." The method used by "Erdogan" in neighboring Turkey "in purging opponents", the source adds, "has caught on here."

Armenian President Sargsyan has not appeared in public since July 17 last, since the morning an armed man occupied a police station in the capital, after killing a policeman and taking others hostage. In the hours after the Ministry of the Interior gave orders to surround the police station, without authorizing a raid.

For five days of negotiations led to the release of five policemen held hostage; the assailants, still surrounded, are demanding the resignation of President of the Republic and the release of their leader Sefilian. Four policemen are still held hostage, including Vardan Eguizarian, deputy head of the National Police, and Valeri Ossipian, deputy head of Yerevan police.

The assailants have taken possession of a huge arsenal of weapons and called on the residents to take to the streets; since the early days of the protest at least 1,500 people have joined the demonstration, suppressed later by the police force.

Complicating matters, Armenian President Sargsyan has asked Russia for help to quell the revolt. According to sources in the capital the riot squad "Alfa" has been sent, known for its "radical solutions" to problems. Rumors of an impending raid to free the policemen still held hostage is confirmed by the fact that for two days the attackers have been denied food and medicines.

The spokesman for Founding Parliament Varujan Avedissian said that this is an "internal Sardarabat." The reference is to the eponymous War of 1918, when men, women, old people armed only with knives and sticks faced down the Turkish army and stopped the invasion of Yerevan, initiating the process of Armenia's independence and the birth of the republic. "This time - says Varujan Avedissian - the enemy is in our own home".

Events precipitated suddenly, following the arrest of Jirair Sefilian, opposition politician and national hero in the war of liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, who has opposed territorial concessions to Azerbaijan, gaining wide popular support. In recent days rumors of a possible agreement by the Armenian President to a partial sale of the territory of Karabakh to Azerbaijan has stirred popular discontent and animated the protest. Jirair Sefilian, one of the few war heroes not to die in mysterious circumstances after the conflict, strongly opposes any such project.

For years Sefilian has opposed the president and the government, accused of corruption and treason, in order to empty it of its inhabitants. Moreover Armenia, visited recently by Pope Francis, annually loses 5% of the population because of corruption and power concentrated in the hands of a few oligarchs. In a few years they have eliminated the middle class, reducing the population to a minority of ultra-billionaires and a majority of desperate ultra poor, with no hope of social or professional future.

The spirit of the Armenians, ready to endure any sacrifice in order to keep their nation united and inviolate, was dealt a blow to read in the press of ongoing secret negotiations "to resolve the issue of the Karabakh conflict" involving the sale of land. An area that Armenians consider an integral part, if not the very heart of the nation. From here, the street protests that not even imposed poverty was able to raise.

In view of a secret agreement favorable to Azerbaijan, which will perhaps be signed in Turkey and for the sale of part of the territory, the authorities have arrested Sefilian as a precautionary measure on charges of "illegal possession of a gun". A specious accusation since he has not possessed a firearm since his return from the front, which aims to thwart a possible street revolution to overthrow the government.

Jirair Sefilian is the same hero who, two years ago, had formed a group of volunteers to go to Syria and liberate the Armenian district of Kessab, occupied by the Islamic State (IS) with the help of Turkey. A project that was opposed by President Sargsyan, who prevented him from leaving the country or organize any support for the struggle.

A vocal critic of the government, he had already been arrested in 2006 and detained for 18 months on charges of planning a "coup attempt". The same accusation with which he was arrested last year in June. Finally, the third arrest, a few days ago, for "possession of weapons" and "an attempt to want to occupy government offices and telecommunications centers."

President Sargsyan - a former soldier of the Karabakh - was elected in 2008, following an election disputed by the opposition; 10 people have died in the clashes. (PB)