13 policemen injured in clashes with protesters in Ijevan (+video)

Law enforcers were injured as a result of clashes with residents of the Tavush Region of Armenia, who blocked the road and demanded to allow them cutting down trees in the forest of Dilijan.

Earlier, by the order of Valery Osipyan, Interior Minister of Armenia, law enforcers organized a round-the-clock watch to identify the facts of illegal cutting of trees and arranged mobile checkpoints on the roads, the RIA "Novosti" reports today with reference to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

Residents of Ijevan have blocked the road for the third day in a row, Flora Khachatryan wrote on her Facebook page.

On July 17, Hayk Chobanyan, Governor of the Tavush Region, met the protesters, the "hetq.am" reports. The head of the region declared that 90 percent of trees were cut down illegally. According to the Governor, the process of tree cutting and transporting will be allowed, but everyone who wants to cut down trees will have to pay a certain amount for a specific category of tree. The protesters were not satisfied with the Hayk Chobanyan's response, and they refused to unblock the road.

The police attempted to force the demonstrators out of the roadway. As a result, a clash occurred between the protestors and the policemen, and the protestors threw sticks and stones at law enforcers. Thirteen policemen were hospitalized at the Ijevan Medical Centre, the "News-Armenia" reports.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 18, 2019 at 02:11 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.