On April 17 there was a scuffle between two groups of people in the vicinity of the military academy after Vazgen Sargsyan in the fifth district of Nork community in Yerevan. The police and the special security forces arrived in the place and the young people were not able to shoot and injure each other. Witnesses say that only one person opened fire and the bullet wounded the front glass of a car. In several minutes after the meeting of the young men the police arrived and there were high rank policemen among them such as the deputy chief of the police Hunan Poghosyan, the head of Yerevan police headquarter Nerses Nazaryan, the chief of the department on struggling against organized crime Gagik Avetisyan. It means that this was a serious conflict and even many of the participants were famous people in the criminal world.
The police had been informed about it in advance and hardly might they have arrived after a call from the neighboring buildings. The fact that so many high rank officials of the police visited the area of the conflict shows that this was not just a simple conflict. There are different rumors and versions telling about conflicts between famous criminals, RPA and PA party members, etc. Witnesses say, that from the one side there were representatives of the RPA, who had asked famous criminals to back them, and from the other side there were people from Abovyan city. Witnesses say that some of the activists of the incidents even had the badges of the RPA and PA parties. Shortly after the incident there was information that after the visit of the police Gagik Tsarukyan visited the place of the incident as well. Certainly both the RPA and PA parties refuted these rumors. “The police reacted to this incident fast and I think it is their problem. There is no political problem between the RPA and PA. I am excluding any political motives for the conflict. It is just a scuffle and the police are the one to find out the reasons. Political powers don’t solve their problems like this. What does it have to do with the RPA if 100 people had problems with each other?” said RPA spokesman Edward Sharmazanov. We received almost the same answer from Gagik Tsarukyan’s spokesman Khachik Galstyan. “I am refuting the rumors on any conflicts between these parties and Gagik Tsarukyan’s visit. It is a result of a conflict with criminal motives, and our party has nothing to do with it. The rumors that the participants of the conflict had party badges are not serious either. The party has nothing to do with this incident,” he said. In answer to our question whether there is any conflict between the two parties Kh.Galstyan said, “Currently we have exclusively friendly relations.” In fact, according to some sources of information, some of the participants of the scuffle were party members but the motives of the conflict are not political. According to our information, one side of the conflict consisted of people from Abovyan led by a guy named Artak, and the other side were children of rich people from Yerevan, who wanted to get the huge money the other person had to give them. These young people asked a famous criminal with the nickname “Dmbouz Gago” to help them to clear the accounts, who fixed a date to meet face to face.
By the way, following the incident the police published a statement with lyrical texts. “It is a pity that among us there are people who think they are higher than the law, are led by criminal rules and the morality of gang movies. Such an anti-civic thing happened two days ago in Nor Nork community, and it is hard to say whether we would not be faced with the brutality that happened in “Tets Kroug” if the mass disorder was not prevented by the operative and rapid actions of the police,” writes that introduction of the statement of the police. The police have issued the following statement about the incident: “On April 17, at 6p.m. the police department of Nor-Nork community received a call informing about hooliganism in the park in front of the military academy after Vazgen Sargsyan. The operative groups of the police visited the place of the incident and behind the “Crazy Horse” café witnessed hooliganism in participation of 60-70 people. In order to prevent the mass disorder the area was surrounded by the police and a shooting was done to warn them stay in their places. The police kept the situation under control, made them drop their guns and arrested them. The police have brought 55 people to the police station from the place of incident, 36 out of which have been arrested. As a result of the operation the police found 12 pistols. It was found out that the reason of the conflict was money. The hooligans were mainly people who have been convicted before and are drug addicts. In answer to certain rumors in the media we are informing that the participants of the conflict are not members of any political parties or non-governmental organizations. The police have launched a criminal case under the Article 258/3-1 and 235/1 of the Criminal Code. The investigation is in process.” The impression is that this incident was a mock event organized by the police and they did a great job.