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Agence France Presse
September 30, 2011 Friday 5:28 PM GMT
Armenia opposition launches round-the-clock protest
YEREVAN, Sept 30 2011
Armenia's main opposition alliance launched a one-week,
round-the-clock protest in a central square in the capital Friday in
an attempt to increase pressure on the authorities to hold snap
elections.
Activists pitched tents on Freedom Square in an echo of protests after
disputed elections in 2008 that ended in clashes leaving 10 people
dead.
"We must step up the pressure in various ways -- sit-ins, hunger
strikes, pickets and so on," former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, the
leader of the Armenian National Congress opposition bloc, told the
rally.
Some 6,000 people rallied in the square amid rain and wind as
Ter-Petrosian demanded presidential and parliamentary polls before the
end of the year, although he insisted that "our aim is not to cause
chaos in the country".
Angry about poverty, alleged institutional corruption and democratic
failings, protesters are hoping for fresh concessions from the
coalition government led by President Serzh Sarkisian after gains made
this year amid a series of demonstrations.
Sarkisian's administration has already released activists jailed for
involvement in the 2008 violence.
But talks between the governing coalition and Ter-Petrosian's bloc
aimed at easing political tensions recently broke down and the
authorities have ruled out any possibility of early polls.
"We expected that the opposition would take radical steps in the
autumn because (parliamentary) elections (in 2012) are close and the
opposition wants to attract the attention of more supporters, but they
have to act within the limits of the law," governing party lawmaker
Eduard Sharmazanov told AFP.
Analysts have also speculated that the ongoing protests are an attempt
to gain electoral advantage before next year's parliamentary polls.
Armenia has gone through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
mkh-emc/mlr
From: Baghdasarian
September 30, 2011 Friday 5:28 PM GMT
Armenia opposition launches round-the-clock protest
YEREVAN, Sept 30 2011
Armenia's main opposition alliance launched a one-week,
round-the-clock protest in a central square in the capital Friday in
an attempt to increase pressure on the authorities to hold snap
elections.
Activists pitched tents on Freedom Square in an echo of protests after
disputed elections in 2008 that ended in clashes leaving 10 people
dead.
"We must step up the pressure in various ways -- sit-ins, hunger
strikes, pickets and so on," former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, the
leader of the Armenian National Congress opposition bloc, told the
rally.
Some 6,000 people rallied in the square amid rain and wind as
Ter-Petrosian demanded presidential and parliamentary polls before the
end of the year, although he insisted that "our aim is not to cause
chaos in the country".
Angry about poverty, alleged institutional corruption and democratic
failings, protesters are hoping for fresh concessions from the
coalition government led by President Serzh Sarkisian after gains made
this year amid a series of demonstrations.
Sarkisian's administration has already released activists jailed for
involvement in the 2008 violence.
But talks between the governing coalition and Ter-Petrosian's bloc
aimed at easing political tensions recently broke down and the
authorities have ruled out any possibility of early polls.
"We expected that the opposition would take radical steps in the
autumn because (parliamentary) elections (in 2012) are close and the
opposition wants to attract the attention of more supporters, but they
have to act within the limits of the law," governing party lawmaker
Eduard Sharmazanov told AFP.
Analysts have also speculated that the ongoing protests are an attempt
to gain electoral advantage before next year's parliamentary polls.
Armenia has gone through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
mkh-emc/mlr
From: Baghdasarian