1 dead, hostages taken in attack on Armenian police station

Poghosyan said the police and security forces would “undertake necessary means” to bring an end to the hostage situation if the armed men refuse to surrender.

Local sources reported the group seized the building to demand the release of their jailed leader Jirayr Sefilyan, an opposition activist who was arrested for illegal arms trafficking and possession in June. TV images of the scene showed a heavy police presence with armoured vehicles blocking off the road to the police station.

Armenia’s coup-like situation comes merely a day after neighbouring nation Turkey’s failed attempt at a coup, that left at least 190 dead and approximately 1,154 people wounded.

A standoff is taking place in the Armenian capital Yerevan where men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles have taken hostages at a police station. Negotiations are underway with the group, which is calling for the release of Jirair Sefilian, the jailed opposition activist and critic of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

One of the gunmen claimed on Facebook that the hostages included the country’s deputy police chief and the deputy police chief of Yerevan.

Though the armed men released a video saying that they were doing this for their fellow citizens, their call to take to the streets seems not to have been heeded. The National Security Service (NSS) said the attackers are holding hostage police personnel inside the building.

Two hostages had been freed, it said, and “several” hostages remained.

Varuzhan Avetisian, one of the members of the Founding Parliament movement that stormed the police building in Yerevan’s southern Erebuni district, said the “rebellion” is also aimed at forcing President Serge Sarkisian to step down. We are a single unit, and we can not reach our goal alone.

Russian media report as many as 8 people have been taken hostage.

Mr Sefilian, a former military commander, has criticised the government’s handling of the long-running conflict involving pro-Armenian separatists in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.