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Radio Farda (19 April 2018)

More than 100 protesters have been detained in downtown Yerevan after scuffles with riot police that had cordoned off a major government building on the seventh day of street protests against the election of longtime former President Serzh Sarkisian as prime minister.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered after the leader of the protest, opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinian, told them the previous day to come in front of the government offices on Republic Square early on April 19.

A police spokesman said that 106 demonstrators were detained in the square when security forces moved in and started to push back the protesters to clear the entrances into government buildings.

"As of 1:30 p.m., 106 people have been taken to police stations. If they are not released in three hours, it means they are suspected of committing offenses," spokesman Ashot Agaronyan was quoted as saying.

Video footage showed chaotic scenes, with a young woman being dragged by police officers, and young protesters being violently pushed inside police vans by members of the security forces.

The arrests came after police issued a statement reminding citizens of the status of "specially protected sites" and warning demonstrators against illegally entering government buildings or other facilities and saying security personnel would apply "proportionate measures of legal effect."