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Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan has defended the police after bloody clashes with demonstrators outside the parliament on June 12, which left some 100 civilians and police officers wounded.

Journalist and outspoken government critic Abraham Gasparyan was also severely injured by police officers at the protest, being hospitalized with concussion and fractured ribs.

"I believe police officers acted proportionately and within the law, fulfilling their duties to maintain the public order," the minister told reporters on Friday, rejecting the reports that Gasparyan sustained a skull fracture.

The minister said eight people remained in the hospital with minor and moderate injuries and were expected to be discharged in the near future.

Separately, the minister said one of those injured in a gas station explosion on the Yerevan-Sevan highway on 7 June had died in the hospital, while another victim was in severe condition.