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ARMENIA: OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS REMEMBER 2008 VIOLENCE IN YEREVAN
Gayane Abrahamyan
EurasiaNet
March 2 2009
NY
Shouting "Punish the March 1 criminals," supporters of former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian gathered March 1 to commemorate the
one-year anniversary of clashes between security forces and opposition
protestors that left at least 10 individuals dead.
Police, water canons, and barbed wire fences filled Yerevan on March
1 this year, but the rally passed without incident. Many residents
watched from their balconies, some joining in the protestors' chant --
"We will win!" Banners called for the release of political prisoners
or an end to "tax terror," a reference to recently introduced income
taxes for small-business owners. Police reported a turnout of 10,000;
opposition members, questioning the police's math skills, claimed
100,000.
One opposition claim, however, could be confirmed. Some inter-city bus
drivers who travel from Armenia's north to Yerevan told EurasiaNet
that the police warned them against working on March 1. The area
contains some of Armenia's largest towns and a relatively political
active population.
"Some were stopped and sent back, although most people had no plans
for going to the rally. But police would not allow them to come to
the capital," according to one driver on the Gyumri-Yerevan line,
who declined to give his name. Police had lined the road into Yerevan,
he added.
One police officer working on the highway northeast of Yerevan cited
security as the reason for the heavy security presence. "We stop the
cars that seem suspicious to us. We check the trucks -- mostly for
the presence of weapons -- to keep the rally from escalating into
mass disorder," said the officer, who declined to give his name.
Only one bus arrived on March 1 at the Yerevan bus station servicing
Armenia's northern provinces, station workers said. The usual schedule
calls for buses to arrive each hour.
"I can't say they have been prohibited from bringing people," commented
station worker Nelli Tadevosian in reference to bus drivers. "People
may have avoided coming themselves. The buses will not operate if
there are no passengers."
In a 50-minute address to rally participants, Ter-Petrosian took issue
with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for not
holding the government accountable for its alleged failure to meet
the requirements of the three PACE resolutions on Armenia passed in
2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. No progress
in addressing human rights issues has been made in the year since
the 2008 protest crackdown, he said.
"During a whole year, the authorities have done nothing to reveal the
real culprits -- the murderers, the people who set fires, or the shop
looters. On the contrary, they have spared no effort to cover their
crimes up," Ter-Petrosian alleged. "If some international structures
claim the opposite and are willing to believe there is, nevertheless,
some progress in that matter, that's their business."
The criticism follows on the heels of two reports that chastised
Armenia for the March 1 violence. In its annual human rights report,
the US Department of State noted that 2008 saw "significant setbacks
for democracy in Armenia, including the worst post-election violence
seen in the Caucasus in recent years." Meanwhile, a report issued
on February 25 by the New York-based Human Rights Watch termed the
clashes one of Armenia's "most serious civil and political rights
crises since independence."
Armenia's worsening economic problems could lead to stronger
protests, Ter-Petrosian warned, adding that Armenia could again
face the economic crisis of the 1990s -- a period that, ironically,
coincides with Ter-Petrosian's own 1991-1998 presidency.
"There are even harder times ahead fraught with the dangers of
social and even humanitarian disasters," he predicted. "So the
[Armenian National] Congress now needs to work with more caution and
with a greater feeling of responsibility not to worsen the already
bad situation."
The Ter-Petrosian movement plans to hold its next Yerevan rally on
May 1.
Meanwhile, relatives of victims of last year's clashes are still
struggling to make sense of the tragedy, which grew out of a contested
election in February 2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].
"My son was killed by the police, but no one has been punished yet
for that. What was my young son's guilt? He only had the courage to
protest!" said Alla Hovhannisian, stroking a photo of her 23-year-old
son, Tigran Khachatrian, who Hovhannisian said was shot with a
Cheryomukha-7 gas-powered gun.
The weapons killed three people during the March 1, 2008,
demonstration. The prosecutor's office has stated that it knows the
names of the police officers who had the weapons, but cannot identify
who fired the shots.
Members of Armenia's three-party governing coalition marked the day
by attending a mass held at Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian
Apostolic Church. In Yerevan's main cathedral, President Serzh
Sargsyan lit 10 candles in memory of the 10 people killed during the
2008 violence.
"We were victims as well," Sargsyan told reporters in reference to
the government. Using mass protests to change Armenia's government is
"not possible," he added.
Some rally onlookers only hope for an end to the ongoing tit-for-tat
accusations between government and opposition. "We are tired of it. We
witnessed the bloodshed, and the authorities and the opposition are
equally guilty for that," complained neighborhood resident Milena
Sargsyan. "Let them leave us alone!"
Editor's Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the online weekly
ArmeniaNow in Yerevan.
Gayane Abrahamyan
EurasiaNet
March 2 2009
NY
Shouting "Punish the March 1 criminals," supporters of former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian gathered March 1 to commemorate the
one-year anniversary of clashes between security forces and opposition
protestors that left at least 10 individuals dead.
Police, water canons, and barbed wire fences filled Yerevan on March
1 this year, but the rally passed without incident. Many residents
watched from their balconies, some joining in the protestors' chant --
"We will win!" Banners called for the release of political prisoners
or an end to "tax terror," a reference to recently introduced income
taxes for small-business owners. Police reported a turnout of 10,000;
opposition members, questioning the police's math skills, claimed
100,000.
One opposition claim, however, could be confirmed. Some inter-city bus
drivers who travel from Armenia's north to Yerevan told EurasiaNet
that the police warned them against working on March 1. The area
contains some of Armenia's largest towns and a relatively political
active population.
"Some were stopped and sent back, although most people had no plans
for going to the rally. But police would not allow them to come to
the capital," according to one driver on the Gyumri-Yerevan line,
who declined to give his name. Police had lined the road into Yerevan,
he added.
One police officer working on the highway northeast of Yerevan cited
security as the reason for the heavy security presence. "We stop the
cars that seem suspicious to us. We check the trucks -- mostly for
the presence of weapons -- to keep the rally from escalating into
mass disorder," said the officer, who declined to give his name.
Only one bus arrived on March 1 at the Yerevan bus station servicing
Armenia's northern provinces, station workers said. The usual schedule
calls for buses to arrive each hour.
"I can't say they have been prohibited from bringing people," commented
station worker Nelli Tadevosian in reference to bus drivers. "People
may have avoided coming themselves. The buses will not operate if
there are no passengers."
In a 50-minute address to rally participants, Ter-Petrosian took issue
with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for not
holding the government accountable for its alleged failure to meet
the requirements of the three PACE resolutions on Armenia passed in
2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. No progress
in addressing human rights issues has been made in the year since
the 2008 protest crackdown, he said.
"During a whole year, the authorities have done nothing to reveal the
real culprits -- the murderers, the people who set fires, or the shop
looters. On the contrary, they have spared no effort to cover their
crimes up," Ter-Petrosian alleged. "If some international structures
claim the opposite and are willing to believe there is, nevertheless,
some progress in that matter, that's their business."
The criticism follows on the heels of two reports that chastised
Armenia for the March 1 violence. In its annual human rights report,
the US Department of State noted that 2008 saw "significant setbacks
for democracy in Armenia, including the worst post-election violence
seen in the Caucasus in recent years." Meanwhile, a report issued
on February 25 by the New York-based Human Rights Watch termed the
clashes one of Armenia's "most serious civil and political rights
crises since independence."
Armenia's worsening economic problems could lead to stronger
protests, Ter-Petrosian warned, adding that Armenia could again
face the economic crisis of the 1990s -- a period that, ironically,
coincides with Ter-Petrosian's own 1991-1998 presidency.
"There are even harder times ahead fraught with the dangers of
social and even humanitarian disasters," he predicted. "So the
[Armenian National] Congress now needs to work with more caution and
with a greater feeling of responsibility not to worsen the already
bad situation."
The Ter-Petrosian movement plans to hold its next Yerevan rally on
May 1.
Meanwhile, relatives of victims of last year's clashes are still
struggling to make sense of the tragedy, which grew out of a contested
election in February 2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].
"My son was killed by the police, but no one has been punished yet
for that. What was my young son's guilt? He only had the courage to
protest!" said Alla Hovhannisian, stroking a photo of her 23-year-old
son, Tigran Khachatrian, who Hovhannisian said was shot with a
Cheryomukha-7 gas-powered gun.
The weapons killed three people during the March 1, 2008,
demonstration. The prosecutor's office has stated that it knows the
names of the police officers who had the weapons, but cannot identify
who fired the shots.
Members of Armenia's three-party governing coalition marked the day
by attending a mass held at Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian
Apostolic Church. In Yerevan's main cathedral, President Serzh
Sargsyan lit 10 candles in memory of the 10 people killed during the
2008 violence.
"We were victims as well," Sargsyan told reporters in reference to
the government. Using mass protests to change Armenia's government is
"not possible," he added.
Some rally onlookers only hope for an end to the ongoing tit-for-tat
accusations between government and opposition. "We are tired of it. We
witnessed the bloodshed, and the authorities and the opposition are
equally guilty for that," complained neighborhood resident Milena
Sargsyan. "Let them leave us alone!"
Editor's Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the online weekly
ArmeniaNow in Yerevan.