Armenian MoD clarifies protest meeting, denies use of force “Bottles thrown, respect maintained”

The Armenian Ministry of Defence has responded to reports claiming that a meeting with citizens protesting outside its administrative complex did not take place.

"Some media outlets, which are not familiar with the situation and information, claim that yesterday there was no meeting at the Ministry of Defence with citizens who held a protest at the administrative complex of the Ministry of Defence," the Ministry stated, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

"It should be noted that immediately after the protest began, the Ministry of Defense offered a meeting with the Deputy Minister, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons (whose whereabouts are unknown), Arman Sargsyan, and then with the Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Temur Shakhnazaryan.

The protest participants stated that they would like to meet with the Chief of the General Staff and several demobilised members of the Armed Forces.

The Chief of the General Staff, Edward Asryan, met with the citizens, and the meeting lasted several hours.

We also report that the Ministry of Defence staff treated the protest participants with respect, and there were no cases of the use of excessive force against them. At the same time, we consider it necessary to emphasise that some protest participants threw bottles at military police officers and engaged in other actions with various objects (video recordings exist), in response to which the actions of the military police officers remained respectful," the statement from the Armenian defence ministry said.

By Khagan Isayev