Four people set themselves on fire in Armenia to protest law enforcers' inaction

December 7, 2006
International Herald Tribune
Source: The Associated PressPublished:

YEREVAN, Armenia: Three teenagers and their grandmother set themselves on fire in the Armenian capital Thursday to protest what they said was law enforcement agencies' inaction in investigating a relative's death, a family member said. Two of them were injured.

The protesters poured gasoline on themselves and set themselves on fire in front of the president's office in Yerevan, the teenagers' great uncle Surian Avdalian told The Associated Press.

The elderly woman and her 14-year-old grandson were wounded and hospitalized with burns, Avdalian said. The other two grandsons were unharmed.

The four were members of the small Yazidi community, who were protesting what they called official inaction in last month's beating death of the children's father, which they said was not being investigated, Avdalian said. They argued that the case was not being probed because of discrimination against the Yazidi, a Kurdish ethnic group.

About 50,000 Yazidi live in Armenia.

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