Opposition forces seize police station in Yerevan, Armenia

In Yerevan, Armenia, members of non-system opposition organization called Founding Parliament have announced a military coup. Spokesman for the organization Varuzhan Avetisyan has said they detained a police station in Erebuni community.

The opposition activists are urging to release their leader Jirair Sefilyan who was detained in June on suspicion of illegal arms trafficking. Police forces have been pulled to the seized police station. All roads leading to Erebuni are closed, journalists are not allowed to the area of confrontation. Snipers can be seen on roofs of nearby buildings. Local residents say that early in the morning they heard sounds of shooting and explosions.

Talking to EADaily’s correspondent, Avetisyan says that they are calling for change of power in Armenia, resignation of Serzh Sargsyan, and that the talks need to be held by Jirair Sefilyan, so he must be released.

He also said that a police colonel is inside the seized police station and Deputy Head of Yerevan City Police Valery Osipyan. Avetisyan stressed they are not hostages. He refuted reports that there were wounded people during the seizure adding that one person was brought out of the building due to bad health condition because of a hot weather.

Press officer of the police Ashot Agaronyan says the police will make an announcement soon.

In June, police announced that Jirair Sefilyan, who participated in the war in Karabakh, was planning with a group of people to seize several building including the Yerevan TV tower. For this purpose, they bought weapons and ammunition. Within his political career, Sefilyan was arrested several times. Last time, it was on April 7, 2015, when he and four leaders of the Founding Parliament were detained on suspicion of plotting mass riots. He spent one month under arrest.