20 Armenian gunmen surrender, ending two-week occupation of police station that left two officers dead

ll 20 gunmen inside a police compound in Armenia’s capital surrendered Sunday, ending a two-week standoff that left two police officers dead and several wounded on both sides, the security service said.

The standoff involving armed members of a radical opposition group also set off protests that led to unrest in the capital, Yerevan.

The leader of the gunmen barricaded inside the police compound, Varuzhan Avetisyan, said in a telephone interview with a local media that they decided to surrender after security forces used armored vehicles to enter the police compound.

Another factor, he said, was that police had started to shoot gunmen who ventured outside. Most were hit in the leg, but a man shot Sunday was hit in the chest, he said.

A group of 31 armed men seized the police compound on July 17 to demand freedom for the leader of their group, who was arrested in June. The group, Founding Parliament, has sharply criticised the government of the former Soviet republic and called for people to take to the streets to force the president and the prime minister to step down.

Several thousand people joined nightly rallies to support the gunmen, occasionally clashing with police.