Clash between police and protesters in Armenia injure 51

Police cleared a street in a suburb of Armenia's capital here early Thursday morning after a clash with protesters left 51 injured, including 28 police, the state-run press agency Armenpress reported.

Police used tear gas late Wednesday to disperse protesters outside a police station in the district of Erebuni after the crowd threw stones at them.

An estimated 136 protesters were arrested in the clashes that lasted hours. Local authorities said Thursday a criminal investigation into the mass disorder has been started.

People have been gathering on Khorenatsi Street since Sunday when gunmen occupied the police station there, holding seven police as hostages, to demand the release of Jirair Sefilyan, a radical opposition leader who was arrested in late June over the alleged illegal purchase and possession of arms.

It is reported a policeman was killed and two others injured when the gunmen stormed the police station, and that the hostages included a senior police official.

Negotiations are still going on between authorities and the armed hostage takers who also demanded the resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Protesters have requested a peaceful solution to the hostage crisis. They began assaulting the police after their demand that opposition leaders should be permitted to enter the police station and take meals to the gunmen inside received no answer.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan on Thursday condemned the attack on police.

"What happened is impermissible and condemnable since it is impossible to achieve changes through violence," he said. Endi