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Hundreds of employees from Spayka, Armenia’s leading freight and agribusiness company, are protesting against the arrest imposed on the company’s Director Davit Ghazaryan outside a Yerevan courthouse.

Earlier on Monday, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to place the Spayka chief facing tax evasion charges under pre-trial arrest sought by Armenian’s tax authorities.

In a statement issued on Friday, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) said that the Spayka company evaded over 7 billion drams in import taxes.

Demonstrators blocked the Tigran Mets Avenue in downtown Yerevan, paralyzing the traffic on the road. Clashes erupted between police and protesters after the latter attempted to block the movement of a vehicle allegedly transporting the Spayka director to jail. Eventually, police officers were able to clear the way for the vehicle to pass, after which the situation relatively calmed down.

Spayka official Karen Baghdasaryan urged protesters not to use violence. He also said some of Spayka’s employees had been detained but were being released at that time.

The company’s deputy director confirmed that release of the detained employees, adding one of them, Garik Sargsyan, suffered injuries in clashes with police and is receiving treatment at Armenia Medical Center.

The protesting crowd is demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, stressing that they are going to fight until the end.