Armenia police clash with protestors in hostage standoff

Riot police in Armenia have exchanged gunfire with an armed pro-opposition group holding hostages inside a police station.

Several protestors were wounded in the clash in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, where the hostages have been held since 17 July.

Police with truncheons and stun grenades charged at protesters shouting "Free independent Armenia" and "Serge, leave!” in reference to President Serge Sarkisian.

Sputnik Armenia news agency said that around 60 people were in the riots and about 40 were still being treated in hospital.

Radio Liberty, a US-funded broadcaster, reported that police bear some of its journalists with truncheons and damaged their equipment. Police have reportedly detained over 100 people.

Around two weeks ago, an armed group stormed the police station, killing a policeman and taking several hostages.

They released a video demanding the release of “political prisoners”, including opposition leader Jirair Sefilian. The CivilNet newspaper identified the group as the Daredevils of Sassoun.

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

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within neighbouring Azerbaijan but has an ethnic Armenian majority. A bloody war erupted in the region after the end of Soviet rule in 1998 and there has been frequent unrest since. The latest clashes, in April, left dozens of people dead.