Police officer hits reporter at protest in Armenian village

A police officer struck a 24News.am journalist covering a protest in the Armenian village of Kasakh on Monday.

The incident occurred as riot police moved to detain demonstrators. The journalist questioned the officers about their use of force during the arrests, asking, “Why are you beating the people?”

In response, one officer shouted, “What do you want? The press office will answer your questions!” Then another officer hit the journalist.

Deputy Police Chief Karen Hakobyan claimed he had not witnessed the assault.

“We’ll investigate the incident. All relevant materials will be reviewed and we will find out what happened,” he said.