Kasakh village protests: 11 detainees 

ArmInfo.The police used brutal, disproportionate and unprovoked force against residents of the  village of Kasakh in the Kotayk region of Armenia, who blocked the Ashtarak-Yerevan highway in the morning; 11 people, including minors, were detained. Residents of the village of Kasakh again blocked this  interstate highway early in the morning, demanding that the problem they had raised earlier be resolved. In particular, to return the previous route of bus #59 and the fare.

Law enforcement agencies stated that the actions of the protesters  were unlawful and they must unblock the road within a "reasonable  time frame." Then, the police, using disproportionate physical force,  removed the protesters from the road; a number of protesters were  detained. During the action, one of the special police forces hit  journalist Mary Manukyan.

As reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, the  citizens were brought to the Ashtarak police station for disobeying  the lawful demands of the police. At the same time, the police did  not comment on the force used against the citizens and the  journalist.

The Yerevan City Hall decided to change the operation of buses  serving routes No. 25 and No. 59. By the decision of the capital's  city hall, these routes will stop serving the specified villages, and  their line will be shortened to the border of Yerevan. In this  regard, since April, residents of Kasakh and Proshyan have  periodically held protests, demanding the return of the previous  route and fare. As residents of the villages of Kasakh and Proshyan  noted then, these changes seriously hit the pockets of low-income  citizens, and created additional inconveniences for residents of the  communities, who are forced to walk 700 meters to the final route of  these buses, the fare for which has also increased from 100 drams to  200 and 250, respectively.

On April 9, a meeting was held between residents of Proshyan and  Kasakh villages and government officials, where the issue of  transport communication was discussed. After this meeting, residents  of Proshyan reported that their problem had been partially resolved:  bus #25 had been retained, but its route had changed - it turned  around at the former building of the Ministry of Defense and returned  to Yerevan.  The issue of the residents of Kasakh remained  unresolved.