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ARMENIA IN STATE OF CRISIS
By Hasmik Lazarian
Boston Globe
Reuters
March 2 2008
MA
One dead, 30 hurt in clashes
YEREVAN, Armenia - President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of
emergency in the capital yesterday as he sought to end violent protests
over a presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.
A statement from the presidential press service said Kocharyan had
signed a decree declaring the state of emergency until March 20
"to prevent a threat to constitutional order."
Police fired in the air and used tear gas in a bid to disperse
yesterday's rally in Yerevan, scene of street protests over a Feb. 19
presidential election that elected an ally of Kocharyan as president.
The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in a square
near the mayor's office after a 10-day sit-in was broken up earlier
by police wielding batons.
A protester in the crowd, reached by cellphone, said: "They shot in
the air to scare us. They have fired tear gas. But people are standing
firm. There are thousands of people standing here with us."
Hundreds of police officers in full riot gear cordoned off the area,
which is near the Italian, French, and Russian embassies. Some
protesters near the mayor's office held crowbars and metal rods.
Others siphoned fuel from the buses into bottles.
The opposition, led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, contends
that the election of Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan as president
was fraudulent.
Disputed presidential elections sparked mass unrest in two other
former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, that ultimately toppled
two long-serving leaders.
The unrest risks destabilizing Armenia, a former Soviet republic of
3.22 million people in the Caucasus Mountains that is now emerging
as a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea
to world markets.
Several thousand opposition supporters have been protesting daily in
the capital's Freedom Square since Sarksyan was elected.
"Permission or no permission [from the authorities], we will all
the same press ahead with protests, because rallies and marches can
only be banned when there is a state of emergency," Ter-Petrosyan
told reporters.
Police said they had used force after protesters started throwing
stones and metal rods at them. "Calls for a violent coup were heard,"
the police statement said.
Armenia's Health Ministry said 31 people, including six police
officers, had been admitted to hospital after the clashes.
By Hasmik Lazarian
Boston Globe
Reuters
March 2 2008
MA
One dead, 30 hurt in clashes
YEREVAN, Armenia - President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of
emergency in the capital yesterday as he sought to end violent protests
over a presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.
A statement from the presidential press service said Kocharyan had
signed a decree declaring the state of emergency until March 20
"to prevent a threat to constitutional order."
Police fired in the air and used tear gas in a bid to disperse
yesterday's rally in Yerevan, scene of street protests over a Feb. 19
presidential election that elected an ally of Kocharyan as president.
The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in a square
near the mayor's office after a 10-day sit-in was broken up earlier
by police wielding batons.
A protester in the crowd, reached by cellphone, said: "They shot in
the air to scare us. They have fired tear gas. But people are standing
firm. There are thousands of people standing here with us."
Hundreds of police officers in full riot gear cordoned off the area,
which is near the Italian, French, and Russian embassies. Some
protesters near the mayor's office held crowbars and metal rods.
Others siphoned fuel from the buses into bottles.
The opposition, led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, contends
that the election of Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan as president
was fraudulent.
Disputed presidential elections sparked mass unrest in two other
former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, that ultimately toppled
two long-serving leaders.
The unrest risks destabilizing Armenia, a former Soviet republic of
3.22 million people in the Caucasus Mountains that is now emerging
as a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea
to world markets.
Several thousand opposition supporters have been protesting daily in
the capital's Freedom Square since Sarksyan was elected.
"Permission or no permission [from the authorities], we will all
the same press ahead with protests, because rallies and marches can
only be banned when there is a state of emergency," Ter-Petrosyan
told reporters.
Police said they had used force after protesters started throwing
stones and metal rods at them. "Calls for a violent coup were heard,"
the police statement said.
Armenia's Health Ministry said 31 people, including six police
officers, had been admitted to hospital after the clashes.