Police arrested thirty people in the Tavush border village of Kirants early this morning where opposition to an Armenian government plan to return adjacent areas to Azerbaijan continues.

Village residents and others opposed to the plan have staged protests in the area and have closed a section of the local highway.

Minister of Internal Affairs Narek Sargsyan told Hetq that those arrested failed to comply with police instructions. He didn’t say what those instructions were.

Opposition Armenia faction MP Garnik Danielyan, in a Facebook post, writes that police blocked entrances to the village and “brutally detained” villagers obstructing demining work in the area.  

The Ministry of Internal Affairs claims that police were sent to Kirants to “ensure security” and to allow demining so that demarcation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border proceeds unhampered.

Opponents of the border deal say it will endanger area residents.

Sargsyan later said that all the arrested had been released.