YEREVAN. – Dismantling of the cafés around Liberty Square—in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan—has been halted.

Viktor Mnatsakanyan, Head of Kentron Administrative District of Yerevan, has agreed to negotiate with Prosperous Armenia Party MPs Naira Zohrabyan and Arman Abovyan who have come to the area, to find acceptable solutions to the current situation.

Situation is very tense in downtown Yerevan since early Thursday morning. The demonstrators had blocked Mesrop Mashtots Avenue, but the red beret military police reopened it, detained 16 people, and used force against others.

Yerevan Municipality had issued a statement with respect to its plan to restore the green space around Liberty Square. Accordingly, businesses that had leased these areas that are the property of the city and built cafés there have received a notification from the city hall proposing that they give up part of these areas they have leased. This proposal, however, has infuriated the proprietors of these cafés. They are staging protests and attempting to obstruct their cafés’ dismantling, which started Thursday morning.