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Over 200 people, including journalists, have been taken to police stations following the dispersal of a demonstration in downtown Yerevan, Union of Informed Citizens NGO said in a statement.

Some of the citizens were taken to police stations of the cities of Abovian and Ashatrak as Yerevan police stations are overcrowded, the statement notes.

Reporters of GALA TV, ‘Haykakan Zhamanak’ daily, and websites News.am, PanArmeniannet, and Hetq.am are among those taken to police stations. Many citizens received injuries, with some of them being hospitalized, according to the statement.

In the last two hours the rapid response group of Armenian Ombudsman Office has been visiting various police stations and Yerevan hospitals where protesters were taken.

As was reported, the police dispersed Tuesday morning, June 23, the demonstrators who blocked Bagramian Avenue in downtown Yerevan to protest against a rise in electricity prices. Prior to the dispersal, the police told protesters to leave Bagramian Avenue and return to Liberty Square so that traffic could resume.

We would remind you that Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) Company earlier submitted a bid to the Public Services Regulatory Commission about a rise in electricity tariffs. The parliamentary opposition considers it unfounded and serving the interests of that company. The current night-time tariff for the population is 31.85 drams per one KWh, the daytime tariff is 41.85 drams. The bid of ENA proposed raising the tariffs to 48 and 58 drams respectively. Yet the Commission satisfied the bid of ENA only partially on June 17. The tariffs In Armenia will increase by 6.93 drams, and not by 17 drams.

The Commission’s decision will take force on August 1, 2015. On June 19 the civic initiative ‘No to Robbery’ staged a rally in Yerevan. The activists later decided to hold a 3-day sit-in in Yerevan’s Liberty Square.