Police actions becoming increasingly gang-like, clearly indicating  loss of control over situation: David Ananyan

ArmInfo. Armenia has turned into a police state, where the main pillars of the regime are black and red  berets and a large infrastructure for disseminating disinformation (fake news). This assessment was made by  former head of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia David Ananyan.

"Not long ago, the ruling political elite declared democracy a key  value for the survival of the Republic of Armenia. However, in  practice, our state has turned into a police state, where the main  pillars of the regime are black and red berets and a large  infrastructure for the spread of disinformation (fake news).

Today, we see a situation where the determination of the police seems  to be weakening  and their actions are becoming increasingly  gang-like, clearly indicating a loss of control.

The process of suppressing mass protests of the popular movement is  clearly reaching a dead end.   The resources of peaceful protesters  increase and begin to compare with those of the police. Demonstrators  show determination, persistence and, to some extent, creativity,  which undermines the positions of the forces.

If the momentum of peaceful acts of disobedience not only continues,  but also increases with the use of modern organizational technologies  and strategies, the police will not be able to withstand this  pressure and will be forced to accept their capitulation, which will  mark the end of the anti-national government and the beginning of  political processes to remove it. Ananyan wrote on social networks.

Since April 19, there have been protests in Armenia after the  agreement on the demarcation of the border with Tavush between  Yerevan and Baku. On May 9, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who led the  march from Tavush to Yerevan, called on the prime minister to resign.  Yesterday, Galstanyan was announced as a candidate for prime minister  of the Republic of Armenia. In the evening, he announced peaceful  actions of disobedience from 8:00 am on May 27, which should force  the authorities to reckon with the will of the people.

By noon on May 27 in Yerevan, police detained 280 participants in the  disobedience action. "Red berets" also detained parents and relatives  of servicemen killed in the 44-day war, who blocked the intersection  of Mashtots-Sayat-Nova streets during a protest. A little earlier, a  video circulated on the Internet showing how, in the center of  Yerevan, "red berets" knocked MP Ashot Simonyan to the ground and  began kicking him.

Responding to the latest incident, the Ombudperson of Armenia  reminded that the member of the National Assembly of the Republic of  Armenia is endowed with a special constitutional and legal status and  taht the latter may be deprived of his liberty only according to a  special procedure established by law. The HRD Office also recorded  cases where, regardless of the end of the actions taken against a  person within the framework of administrative proceedings, the person  continued to be detained in police stations until the 3 hours  established by law had expired.