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PROTESTERS CLASH WITH RIOT POLICE IN YEREVAN
Agence France Presse
March 1, 2008 Saturday
Protesters and riot police clashed Saturday in Yerevan with
demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones and police firing
tear gas and automatic weapons into the air, an AFP reporter saw.
Shortly after the clashes began, riot police charged into the crowd
of up to 8,000 protesters who had gathered in a central square in
the Armenian capital in defiance of a crackdown earlier in the day.
Several vehicles were destroyed in the violence and at least two cars
were set on fire.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian warned before the violence that
authorities were ready to declare a state of emergency if a political
crisis that flared following a presidential election last month
worsened.
"All orders are ready for the president to declare a state of
emergency if the situation continues to worsen," Oskanian told a
press conference.
The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election.
The opposition's show of defiance came after riot police stormed
Yerevan's Freedom Square to clear a hard core of some 1,500 protesters
who had been camping there around the clock since the election.
Police could be seen beating several protestors and the health
ministry reported that 31 people, including six police officers,
had been injured in the operation.
Opposition chief Levon Ter-Petrosian, the defeated presidential
candidate and former president of the mountainous country, said he
had been placed under house arrest following the crackdown.
Protesters claim the election was rigged to ensure victory for Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a close ally of outgoing President Robert
Kocharian.
But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) have said that the election "mostly" met international
standards.
Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.
Agence France Presse
March 1, 2008 Saturday
Protesters and riot police clashed Saturday in Yerevan with
demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones and police firing
tear gas and automatic weapons into the air, an AFP reporter saw.
Shortly after the clashes began, riot police charged into the crowd
of up to 8,000 protesters who had gathered in a central square in
the Armenian capital in defiance of a crackdown earlier in the day.
Several vehicles were destroyed in the violence and at least two cars
were set on fire.
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian warned before the violence that
authorities were ready to declare a state of emergency if a political
crisis that flared following a presidential election last month
worsened.
"All orders are ready for the president to declare a state of
emergency if the situation continues to worsen," Oskanian told a
press conference.
The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election.
The opposition's show of defiance came after riot police stormed
Yerevan's Freedom Square to clear a hard core of some 1,500 protesters
who had been camping there around the clock since the election.
Police could be seen beating several protestors and the health
ministry reported that 31 people, including six police officers,
had been injured in the operation.
Opposition chief Levon Ter-Petrosian, the defeated presidential
candidate and former president of the mountainous country, said he
had been placed under house arrest following the crackdown.
Protesters claim the election was rigged to ensure victory for Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a close ally of outgoing President Robert
Kocharian.
But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) have said that the election "mostly" met international
standards.
Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.