U.S. Embassy: 'Armenian government must conduct full and transparent investigation regarding reports of excessive use of force by police'

17:14, June 23, 2015

The United States Embassy in Armenia issued the following statement regarding the protests and police actions that took place yesterday and today in Yerevan.

We were encouraged by the responsible and generally respectful behavior by both protestors and police on the evening of June 22 during the protests over the planned rise in electricity prices. 

Freedom of speech and assembly are fundamental rights in any democracy, and we were pleased to see both sides work in a manner that respected these rights and did not escalate tensions.

However, we are concerned about reports of excessive police use of force to disperse the crowd on the morning of June 23, as well as several reports of abuse while in police custody.   Read more... (179 words)

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