3 wounded in shooting at Armenian police station

Two members of an armed group, which has earlier seized the police building in Yerevan, surrendered after a gunfight with police, head of Information and Public Relations of the Police of Armenia Ashot Aharonian said Wednesday.

Police were rejecting the demand late on July 26 and urging the crowd of protesters near the occupied building to move the demonstration to another location.

According to the police, security forces began opening fire when a police vehicle driven by one of the gunmen emerged from the occupied station and approached a group of officers. Armenian law enforcers will use all possible means to settle the situation around hostage taking at a police regiment in Yerevan peacefully, Major General Vitaly Balasanyan, a mediator in the talks with the armed group holding hostages, said on Sunday.

This, after authorities permitted the armed group’s leaders to speak to journalists in a neutral zone around the police station. The last four hostages were released on Saturday, but the gunmen are refusing to lay down arms.

Besides demanding the release of Sefilian, the gunmen are attempting to initiate a movement with the objective of establishing to a new government that would exclude members of the governing Republican Party and limit the powers of President Serzh Sargsyan.

Police initially accused Sefilian of preparing a plot to seize government buildings and telecommunication facilities in Yerevan.