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Police Use Water Cannon to Break Up Latest 'Electric Yerevan' Protest in Armenia

Armenian police arrested 48 people and broke through a human chain, foiling a planned march to the presidential palace over a proposed electricity rate hike.
Photo by Vakhram Baghdasaryan/Photolure/EPA

Police clashed with "Electric Yerevan" demonstrators in Armenia's capital again on Friday night, the latest incident in a summer that has been marked by skirmishes between protesters and police related to a proposed electricity rate hike.

For two weeks in June and July, riot police, water cannons, and mass arrests all failed to deter protesters upset at the prospect of a 17 percent increase in electricity prices. About a third of Armenians live below the poverty line.

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The protests only died down when the government said it would suspend the proposed rate increases in early July.

Several thousand protesters returned to the streets in Armenia's capital on Friday night to demand the proposed rate hike be done away with altogether.

A phalanx of officers pushed through protesters who had formed a human chain blocking Marshal Bagramian Avenue.

Related: 'Russia Is Russia's Worst Enemy in Armenia'

The police succeeded at severing the line in its middle and corralling demonstrators to either side of the street, foiling a planned march to the presidential palace. Police later used a water cannon to clear the streets.

Police spokesman Ashot Agaronyan told the Associated Press that 48 protesters were arrested after they refused to disperse.

The hike was requested by the Electric Networks of Armenia, a utility is controlled by the Russian company RAO UES.

Related: 'We Won't Get Tired': Riot Police Deployed in Armenia as Protests Over Electricity Hike Rage On

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