At around 11 pm on July 29, journalists were attacked while reporting on the dispersal of demonstrators in Yerevan\u2019s Sari Tagh district.<\/p>\n
Particularly affected were Azatutyun (RFE\/RL\u2019s Armenian service) journalists Karlen Aslanyan and Hovhannes Movsisyan, and camera operator Garik Harutyunyan, all of whom were working on the scene.<\/p>\n
On Azatutyun radio\u2019s airwaves, Movsisyan said that those who attacked them knew very well they were journalists: the crew was in the middle of a live broadcast, and all three members of the group wore press badges.<\/p>\n
Director of RFE\/RL\u2019s Armenian Broadcast Service Hrair Tamrazian, in a status update on Facebook<\/a> [AM], said that hitting journalists were plainclothes police officers.<\/p>\n \u201cOur journalists Karlen Aslanyan and Hovhannes Movsisyan were attacked. They had press badges and journalistic devices. Both were subjected to violence, received blows from batons by plainclothes police officers. They told Hovhannes, \u2018Are you filming, yeah?\u2019 They approached and began to attack, smashed [their] equipment. It\u2019s terrible. As told by Hovhannes and Karlen, the officers tore off the press badges. The demonstrators were also beaten. It\u2019s just horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n