Yesterday RA Police issued an announcement regarding the incident, which took place near Triumph café downtown Yerevan on Wednesday. “Recently the media periodically spreads rumors about the incident that took place near Triumph café, which according to certain media representatives was followed by gunshots. Others claim that there were no gunshots just guns were showed to scare people. Some journalist mentions a beaten policeman, another one says the police was too late. Others speak of dozens of “Jeeps”, which arrived at the scene of crime (no one knows why the witnesses don’t mention any plate numbers). Others say that people are scared to make testimonies,” mentions the release of the police by denying all those assumptions. “In fact the following happened. On August 22 at about 6:30 p.m. the police department received an alert call that a fight broke up in the “Flying sail” café of Yerevan. The operative group that immediately departed for the scene of the incident didn’t find out any fight and the people working in the café mentioned that there was no fight in the mentioned café,” reads the release of the police. Later it continues, “According to the received information the fight broke up in the neighboring Triumph café. The people working in the Triumph mentioned that there was no fight inside the café. It was outside on the front sidewalk. It broke up among 14-16 year old young men.” This means that first the police denies the possibility of fight and then later confirms it. Our police needed two days to draw this genius conclusion. By the way, we’d like to inform the police management that the journalist of 168-Zham newspaper on the day of the incident has called the head of the Public Service Department of the RA Police, Sayad Shirinyan, who categorically denied any incident in Triumph café. This means that according to yesterday’s release (which has probably been written by Shirinyan) the police deny the statement of Sayad Shirinyan. “I don’t know what happened at that café – it’s law-enforcers who must deal with that – but Gagik Tsarukyan certainly had nothing to do with the clash,” said Naira Zohrabyan, a senior member of Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), a junior partner in the HHK-led governing coalition. Zohrabyan ruled out the possibility that Tsarukyan’s bodyguards, notorious for their intimidating and occasionally violent behavior, may have acted without his knowledge. “I assure you that Mr. Tsarukyan knows what his bodyguards and other staff are up to,” she said. Galust Sahakyan, a prominent HHK figure who is Aghababyan’s brother-in-law, dismissed the reports as “provocative rumors.” He argued that Aghababyan, who owns one of Yerevan’s largest clothing markets, has not been in Armenia for the past ten days. According to the Armenian police, a violent dispute took place outside the café and involved only several teenagers. Sayad Shirinyan, a police spokesman, said Tsarukyan’s and Aghababyan’s men had no part in the incident.
