Armenian police disperse protest against electricity tariff rise

Several protesters were taken away by police while a number of injured were taken to hospital in ambulances, a Reuters reporter said.

The protest started on Monday, when about 5,000 demonstrators marched to the presidential headquarters but were stopped by riot police and began a sit-in protest, blocking traffic on a central boulevard. Police asked demonstrators to leave the road but they refused.

The protest, which was organised by young activists with no affiliation to any political parties, was triggered by the state regulatory commission's decision last week to increase the tariff on electricity by 17 to 22 percent from Aug. 1.

That rise followed a request by the electricity distribution company for Armenia's electricity network, a subsidiary of the Russian firm Inter RAO, which said the move followed a fall in Armenia's currency, the dram.

The dram currency was trading around 473 to the dollar on Monday, compared with 407 drams a year earlier.

Armenia, a former Soviet republic of 3.2 million people, has been badly hit by the economic downturn in Russia, which has hurt exports and much-needed remittances from Armenian workers based there. 

 

(Reuters)