Militants Seizing Police HQ in Armenia, Demand Release of Opposition Head

The broadcaster that first reported the news hasn’t identified the victims of the attack, but other media outlets stated later that the local police chief, Valery Osipyan, is being held hostage.

Troops have been dispatched to the building, and the head of the country’s security forces, Vladimir Gasparyan, is on the scene as well.

The attack began when an armed group in trucks rammed through the gates of the police headquarters and took control of the building.

The attack is thought to have been launched to demand the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was detained on June 20 after authorities allegedly uncovered a plot to seize several buildings and telecommunication facilities in Yerevan.

Representatives of the authorities have entered into talks with the attackers, according to an official statement from Armenia’s National Security Service.

“Today in the morning, a group of armed attackers stormed an Armenian police patrol regiment headquarters, and they are holding people hostage there at gunpoint,” it reads, Russia Today reported. 

“At the moment, we’re carrying out negotiations with the armed group to ensure their peaceful surrender to the authorities,” the statement continues, adding that supporters of the attackers have been spreading false information about “an armed rebellion” via social networks.

“This information being spread isn’t consistent with reality. State government bodies are working in standard operating mode, and law enforcement authorities are conducting activities to ensure public order and state security.”

People are being evacuated from apartment buildings near the scene, local media report.

Sefilyan’s supporters had declared earlier that they intended to “change the state of things in Armenia” by inciting “an armed rebellion.”

“We have already seized one of the main police hubs in Yerevan and are in control of the Erebuni,” their statement said, referring to an area in the south of the Armenian capital.

Last October, Jirayr Serfilyan and his opposition movement, “New Armenia,” announced that they would launch a “process of the civil disobedience and change of power.”

“Achieving the shift of power only through elections is impossible; it can be achieved only by an armed rebellion of the people,” Sefilyan said at a public demonstration at the time.