In Yerevan, refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh protest against eviction from a squatted building

In Yerevan, refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are protesting against their eviction from the former building of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, reports the anarchist group Black Banner . They are holding a sit-in outside the department’s building, and also regularly organize protests at the Public Expenditure Committee and the government building of the republic.

The former building of the Armenian Ministry of Defense on the Yerevan-Ashtarak highway stood abandoned for 10 years. In 2018, he was squatted by refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. They developed the area around the building, carried out renovations and divided the apartments. In 2023, the building “found” an owner. On February 16, by decision of the State Expenditure Committee of Armenia, the refugees were kicked out of the building by security forces. They plan to make the house a “center for foreign economic activity.”

At the time of the eviction, 120 families lived in the house. About six thousand security forces came to drive out the residents of the building. The police broke down 130 doors placed by residents of the house. After that, their things began to disappear. Trees planted by refugees were removed from the courtyard of the house. In the first days after the eviction, the police did not allow the residents of the house to put up tents next to it, and they did not allow an ambulance into the territory.

At the moment, of the 120 evicted families, 25 are living in tents, and about 20 more are in temporary dormitories, the keys to which are issued by the police. The rest live with relatives and friends.

Protests against the eviction of the building take place every Monday at 12:00 local time in front of the State Expenditure Committee (Khorenatsi, 3) and every Thursday at 1200 in front of the Government of Armenia (Tigran Mets, 1).