Nikol Pashinian, Aylentrank Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

RFE/RL reports that “at least a dozen” opposition activists supportive of former president Levon Ter Petrosian have been detained. Their crime? In lieu of having access to the broadcast media to advertise Friday’s rally at which Ter Petrosian is due to speak, the activists used megaphones to announce the meeting on the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan. One of those detained is believed to be the outspoken editor of the pro-Ter Petrosian Haykakan Zhamank newspaper, Nikol Pashinian.

At least a dozen supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian, among them two newspaper editors, were reportedly detained by police on Tuesday as they urged Yerevan residents to participate in a rally to be held by Armenia’s former president this week.

Representatives of the pro-Ter-Petrosian Aylentrank (Alternative) movement told RFE/RL that five of its leaders were detained after defying police orders to stop announcing Friday’s rally through a megaphone on a busy street intersection in the city center.

The five detainees were said to remain in police custody as of late evening. They reportedly included the outspoken editors of the “Haykakan Zhamanak” and “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” newspapers staunchly opposed to Armenia’s current leadership.

Another pro-Ter-Petrosian group, the former ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party, said several of its youth activists were similarly detained by police officers while distributing leaflets in the city’s northern Nor Nork district earlier in the day. The HHSh chairman, Ararat Zurabian, told RFE/RL that some of them were released shortly afterwards. “All of this is not causing us to panic,” he said.

The full post is available on the 2008 Presidential Election Monitor Blog.

The post now includes a video from A1 Plus outside the police station where protesters gathered to demand the release of those detained.