Police disperse rally against electricity prices in Armenia

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Riot police armed with water cannons forcefully dispersed demonstrators in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Tuesday who had blocked a central avenue to protest a hike in electricity prices.

Police arrested more than 200 people, but thousands more protesters gathered for a new rally later in the day.

The protest and its tough dispersal represented the most serious unrest Armenia has seen in years, raising concerns about political stability in the impoverished ex-Soviet nation that hosts a Russian military base and is part of a Moscow-dominated economic alliance.

Russian companies control some of the most prized economic assets in Armenia, including the country's power grid, whose price hike triggered the protest.

The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan voiced concern about reports of the excessive use of force by police and urged the government to investigate them.

About 5,000 demonstrators marched Monday to the presidential headquarters but were stopped by lines of riot police backed by water cannons. The protesters then sat on the road, blocking traffic and ignoring police demands to leave. They also refused the government's offer to appoint representatives to present their demands to President Serge Sarkisian and demanded that he attend the rally.

Several hundred remained in place overnight. Riot police moved to break up the protest early Tuesday, using water cannons.

Some protesters resisted and threw rocks at the officers, who responded by beating them with truncheons. Plainclothes police agents also rounded up demonstrators.

Armenian police spokesman Ashot Agaronian said 237 demonstrators were detained and seven demonstrators and 11 police officers were injured.

Police also broke up a small rally in Armenia's second-largest city of Gyumri on Tuesday backing the main protest, arresting 12 people.

The demonstrators were demanding that the government reconsider its decision to increase electricity prices for households by 17-22 percent. Some protesters also for Sarkisian's resignation.

The opposition Armenian National Congress walked out of parliament in protest Tuesday against the rally's breakup and demanded the release of all those detained.

Raffi Hovannisian, the leader of the opposition Heritage party who challenged Sarkisian in a 2013 presidential election, also denounced the government crackdown on the protest, calling it "a national shame."

Sarkisian, who is serving his second term, hasn't yet commented on the protest.

The landlocked country's economy is hobbled by the longstanding closure of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey over a conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It depends on close ties with Russia.

Alexander Iskandarian, head of the Caucasus Institute, an independent think tank, said the protest reflected "the radicalization of opposition activities."

About 3,000 protesters converged again Tuesday afternoon on a central square but did not immediately march on the presidential residence. They jeered when a collage featuring pictures of plainclothes police agents who helped to break up the earlier rally was put on display.