The police of Artsakh had to resort to relevant measures to prevent the situation from heating up, David Babayan, Spokesman for the Nagorno-Karabakh President, says in an interview with Haykakan Zhamanak when commenting on the Berdzor clashes between the police and the members of the Founding Parliament.
He says that the major part of the Artsakh public came out against that motor rally and the members of the Founding Parliament were aware of that, however they did not give up that idea. Babayan points out that the representatives of various public layers, who disagree with the ideas of the motor rally participants, gathered to meet the participants and to prevent them from entering Artsakh. Babayan says: "The police were trying to hinder the clashes and had to resort to relevant measures to prevent the situation from heating up. Unfortunately, some people received injuries, but their life is out of danger", he says.
Babayan stresses that the police were not armed, however, when replying to the journalist's remark that the photos and videos feature masked police with weapons, Babayan says that he has no information that the police used those weapons. "Even if they fired, they fired into the air to sober the people", he says.
To remind, on Jan 31 the representatives of the Founding Parliament, including the Artsakh War veteran Zhirayr Sefilyan, were severely beaten by the NKR police on their way to Artsakh near Berdzor. The NKR police were trying to hinder the motor rally within the frames of the "Centennial Without Regime" movement, which seeks to shift the power in Armenia on the threshold of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. The movement members say that most of the policemen were wearing civilian clothes. The police were taking the motor rally participants out of the cars and beating them with batons. Many activists were taken to Stepanakert hospital. Sefilyan's health condition is also grave. -n-