YEREVAN. - Police narrative of August 9 incident between the police and opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) young activists is not true, said ANC press secretary Arman Musinyan to a press conference on Monday.

Police Chief Alik Sargsyan earlier stated that is was a remark to one of the young man (the identity not determined yet) not to walk his dog without a muzzle that instigated the incident.

According to Musinyan, in reality police special forces (so-called “red berets”) searched a citizen and the police, understanding that their actions were illegal, claimed that the true reason was the story with a dog.

“Two police officers in red berets searched a citizen. ANC activist Artak Karapetyan approached them and offered to be a witness. The conversation between the two sides was held in a civilized manner until the other activist Tigran Araqelyan approached. One of the police officers said: "Hey, I know him, he is one of the followers of Levon [Ter-Petrosyan, former president, leader of ANC]". They started a quarrel, which turned into brutal act of violence against our activists," said Musinyan.

According to him, the other five young activista walked along the Freedom Square and approached the group. They saw that Tigran Arakelyan is on the ground and two police officers beat him. Attempts to calm the police yielded no positive results - they were forced into a car and taken to the police department.

Violent acts against the boys continued on the way to and in the police station.

ANC activists have demanded medical care and counsel. The doctor who examined Tigran Araqelyan, Areg Gevorgyan and Sahak Mouradyan stated that she suspects a concussion.

The lawyers were allowed to meet their clients only after 40 minutes. Meanwhile one lawyer was beaten up, the cell phone of the other one was taken away. The decision of the arrest was made without the involvement of lawyers,” said Musinyan.   

Earlier Armenian News-NEWS.am informed that ANC activists have been detained last Tuesday, around 10:00 p.m. from Northern Avenue of Yerevan downtown.