[ 27 July 2015 23:09 ]
Baku-APA. Protests against rising electricity prices continue in central Yerevan on Monday. Participants in a rally had to retreat from central Republic Square after police surrounded it not to let the rally block the road, APA reports quoting TASS.
Cars are honking in a traffic jam on Amiryana Street where the protesters have moved. They are chanting slogans against high electricity prices. Police have been rushed to the street to restore the traffic.
The riots erupted in mid-June after the Commission for regulation of the country’s public services had agreed to increase public electricity tariffs by 16% to meet the request received from CJSC "Electric Networks of Armenia" distribution company.
The measure which is to take effect on August 1 caused a wave of indignation among ordinary Armenians who assumed that the electricity price hike would automatically increase prices for essentials and many services.
The country’s opposition later took advantage of the situation and forced people into streets, what resulted in the dispersal of the Yerevan protests by police on June 23. As a result, 18 people, including 11 police officers, were hurt, and 237 people were detained but later released. However, protesters almost immediately resumed peace protests.
On June 27, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that the government was ready to suspend the hike temporarily and cover the price rise out of state funds rather than increase customers’ bill until experts did not complete the audit of the Electric Networks of Armenia distribution company.
That split the protesters’ camp in two: those who accepted the government’s proposal moved to Freedom Square outside the Yerevan Opera Theatre; the other half of more radically minded protesters who rejected the government concession continued to stay on Marshal Bagramyan Avenue.
On June 29, protesters in a picket in Freedom Square made the decision to stop street protests, choosing "a new format of fight". On July 6, police cleared Marshal Bagramyan Avenue of barricades and protesters, after which protests moved to Freedom Square.
