Despite dwindling numbers of participants in their daily rallies activists occupying one of Yerevan’s central boulevards have been keeping up the pressure of their protests against rising electricity prices.

As new leaders took over coordination of the Baghramyan Avenue protest dubbed Electric Yerevan the campaign vowed to continue to press the authorities to revoke their controversial decision to raise electric power tariffs by more than 16 percent beginning August 1.

A group of protesters led by initial organizers, a civil initiative called No To Plunder, left the protest site after President Serzh Sargsyan offered a “compromise” plan to defuse tensions last weekend, suggesting that the government will subsidize the hike pending an international audit of Armenia’s power grid run by a Russian-owned company.

But a majority of protesters remained camped in Baghramyan Avenue, determined to achieve their ultimate goal through a peaceful sit-in.

As the nonstop protest continued Nelly Duryan, a senior police officer in charge of minors’ affairs, visited the site Wednesday evening to get acquainted with the situation and urge parents not to allow their underage children to come to the protest venue, especially alone.

A number of activists confronted the police colonel, saying that their gatherings were peaceful and nothing threatened the children there.

Meanwhile, Duryan also cited the current hot weather conditions as one of the factors to discourage children from attending the rallies.

Meteorologists warned on July 1 that a new heat wave was on its way and that daytime air temperatures in Armenia would climb to 39 degrees centigrade (102F) in the coming days.