Serzh Sarkisian

YEREVAN -- Demonstrators and Armenian riot police clashed after lawmakers nominated Serzh Sarkisian to be the country's next prime minister amid a wave of protests accusing the longtime former president of a power grab.

Armenian authorities launched a criminal investigation July 3 into police officers involved in a brutal crackdown on demonstrators protesting against electricity price hikes.

Some 10,000 protesters rallied in the Armenian capital on June 28, defying police threats to forcefully break up the demonstration against the government's controversial move to hike electricity prices.

Riot police in the Armenian capital early June 23 used water cannon to disperse several hundred demonstrators protesting a government hike in electricity prices, an AFP journalist reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will attend the ceremony in Yerevan to commemorate the 1915 events.

According to a statement issued by the Russian Presidency, Putin told his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian by telephone on March 12 that he would join the commemoration ceremony scheduled for April 24 in Yerevan.

Armenia on May 27 invited Turkish leader to events next year marking the 100th anniversary of World War I-era mass killings that Armenians say amounted to “genocide,” despite Ankara’s fierce rejection of the term.