High Voltage: Yerevan Protest Ignites New Wave of Social Change

BY SEROUJ APRAHAMIAN
From the Armenian Weekly
Residents living on Yerevan’s Baghramyan Avenue awoke to the sounds of water cannons and police wagons on Tuesday morning as police violently dispersed an overnight sit-in held by activists protesting a recent hike in electricity fares.
Images of young demonstrators being hosed down, beaten, and dragged by riot police and plainclothes officers quickly spread through the internet and social media. More than 230 people were arrested in the melee, with several sustaining injuries.
The disproportionate use of force by the police elicited condemnation from the public andinternational observers. Many were stunned by the violence of the operation and official labeling of protesters as “hooligans,”