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EIGHT PEOPLE KILLED OVERNIGHT IN ARMENIAN UNREST
Monsters and Critics.com
March 2 2008
Yerevan - Eight people were killed in Armenia in overnight clashes
between police and opposition protestors that led the president to
declare a 20-day state of emergency, officials said Sunday.
Witnesses said that Armenian security forces used truncheons, fired
into the air and released tear gas to disperse the twelfth day
of thousands-strong opposition demonstrations against the alleged
government rigging of February 19 presidential elections.
Some of the 15,000 protestors Saturday threw Molotov cocktails at
the police and clashes grew increasingly violent after midnight,
when eight people were killed, including a policeman.
Local media reported dozens of injured opposition supporters of failed
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian, while the police said 33
of its members were hurt.
By morning witnesses described streets clogged with debris and the
remains of 30 cars burned overnight.
Armoured vehicles and troops with assault rifles were patrolling the
capital Yerevan after outgoing President Robert Kocharian declared
a state of emergency. The declaration was upheld by parliament which
is led by the vote winner, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
The small Caucasus state of 3.2 million has emerged as a strategically
important region, lying along gas routes from the energy-rich Caspian
Sea region to Europe and being a close partner of Iran.
Western powers fear instability in the region could disrupt gas routes
and further undermine a fragile security situation with Armenia's
neighbours Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Demonstrations have been led by Armenia's first president Ter-Petrosian
whose political comeback after 10 years of retirement has divided
the country along old faultlines.
Ter-Petrosian, 63, was forced from power in a 'velvet' coup by the
incumbent president and prime minister after a series of armed attacks
on top government officials.
Sunday's violence was the worst in Armenia's post-Soviet history,
causing Ter-Petrosian to call for a 20-day halt to demonstrations in
a radio address blared through loudspeakers on cars driven through
the city centre.
Ter-Petrosian has pledged to renew protest at the end of the 20-day
state of emergency, raising fears of continued unrest.
He has called the government's behaviour 'shameful' and refuses to
accept official results which showed him with 21.43 per cent of the
vote, far behind Prime Minister Sarkisian who won just over the 50-
per-cent hurdle needed to avoid a run-off with the second-place
finisher.
The opposition has lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court
to invalidate the results, complaining of mass voting violations,
including the beating and kidnapping of its supporters at the polls.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
vote-monitoring arm declared the elections mostly in adherence with
international standards.
At a press conference with foreign reporters at his home Ter-Petrosian
said, 'I don't understand how the international community could
tolerate what happened last night.'
Security forces were guarding him from leaving his home, but he had
not formally been placed under house arrest Sunday.
Under the emergency rule, mass gatherings are banned and media outlets
may report only official information. Check points have been set up
around the capital.
Kocharian alleged that some protestors had shot at police.
'What's going on now is not a political process. It has gone over
the edge,' he said in an night-time news conference.
About 89 people have sought medical aid following the night-time
protests, including 57 policemen, news agency Interfax reported
Sunday. Local media reported that at least 55 people had been arrested.
Ter-Petrosian's spokesman Arman Musinyan said that weapons and grenades
had been planted on demonstrators as a pretext for their arrest.
Monsters and Critics.com
March 2 2008
Yerevan - Eight people were killed in Armenia in overnight clashes
between police and opposition protestors that led the president to
declare a 20-day state of emergency, officials said Sunday.
Witnesses said that Armenian security forces used truncheons, fired
into the air and released tear gas to disperse the twelfth day
of thousands-strong opposition demonstrations against the alleged
government rigging of February 19 presidential elections.
Some of the 15,000 protestors Saturday threw Molotov cocktails at
the police and clashes grew increasingly violent after midnight,
when eight people were killed, including a policeman.
Local media reported dozens of injured opposition supporters of failed
presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian, while the police said 33
of its members were hurt.
By morning witnesses described streets clogged with debris and the
remains of 30 cars burned overnight.
Armoured vehicles and troops with assault rifles were patrolling the
capital Yerevan after outgoing President Robert Kocharian declared
a state of emergency. The declaration was upheld by parliament which
is led by the vote winner, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
The small Caucasus state of 3.2 million has emerged as a strategically
important region, lying along gas routes from the energy-rich Caspian
Sea region to Europe and being a close partner of Iran.
Western powers fear instability in the region could disrupt gas routes
and further undermine a fragile security situation with Armenia's
neighbours Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Demonstrations have been led by Armenia's first president Ter-Petrosian
whose political comeback after 10 years of retirement has divided
the country along old faultlines.
Ter-Petrosian, 63, was forced from power in a 'velvet' coup by the
incumbent president and prime minister after a series of armed attacks
on top government officials.
Sunday's violence was the worst in Armenia's post-Soviet history,
causing Ter-Petrosian to call for a 20-day halt to demonstrations in
a radio address blared through loudspeakers on cars driven through
the city centre.
Ter-Petrosian has pledged to renew protest at the end of the 20-day
state of emergency, raising fears of continued unrest.
He has called the government's behaviour 'shameful' and refuses to
accept official results which showed him with 21.43 per cent of the
vote, far behind Prime Minister Sarkisian who won just over the 50-
per-cent hurdle needed to avoid a run-off with the second-place
finisher.
The opposition has lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court
to invalidate the results, complaining of mass voting violations,
including the beating and kidnapping of its supporters at the polls.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
vote-monitoring arm declared the elections mostly in adherence with
international standards.
At a press conference with foreign reporters at his home Ter-Petrosian
said, 'I don't understand how the international community could
tolerate what happened last night.'
Security forces were guarding him from leaving his home, but he had
not formally been placed under house arrest Sunday.
Under the emergency rule, mass gatherings are banned and media outlets
may report only official information. Check points have been set up
around the capital.
Kocharian alleged that some protestors had shot at police.
'What's going on now is not a political process. It has gone over
the edge,' he said in an night-time news conference.
About 89 people have sought medical aid following the night-time
protests, including 57 policemen, news agency Interfax reported
Sunday. Local media reported that at least 55 people had been arrested.
Ter-Petrosian's spokesman Arman Musinyan said that weapons and grenades
had been planted on demonstrators as a pretext for their arrest.