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Today Marks 5 Years Since March 1, 2008 Post-Election Tragedy (Video

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  • Today Marks 5 Years Since March 1, 2008 Post-Election Tragedy (Video

    TODAY MARKS 5 YEARS SINCE MARCH 1, 2008 POST-ELECTION TRAGEDY (VIDEOS)

    http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/03/01/march-tragedy/
    11:30 ~U 01.03.13

    Today marks the fifth anniversary of the March 1, 2008 post-electoral
    unrest that later developed into violent clashes between the protesting
    crowd and the police, leaving 10 people dead and scores of others
    injured.

    Dissatisfied with the outcomes of the 2008 presidential election,
    hundreds of Armenians were holding protest demonstrations in Yerevan's
    Liberty Square in late February. The crowd was led by first President
    Levon Ter-Petrosyan who later became the head of the opposition
    alliance Armenian National Congress. The last days of the protests
    saw tents in the square with the names of different administrative
    regions of Armenia.

    Following the calls of Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition activist and
    the editor-in-chief of the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, the crowd
    was rallying round-the-clock, periodically cleaning the square of
    dirt and rubbish.

    A Wikileaks cable released two years later said that the then
    president, Robert Kocharyan, sanctioned special police operations in
    the area after the police forces and special services gave assurances
    for clearing the square of opposition activists within just a couple
    of minutes.

    The leaked cable, dated March 10, 2008, was written by Dr. Joseph
    Pennington, a deputy US ambassador to Armenia, who revealed details of
    a secret meeting with Garnik Isagulyan, Kocharyan's security advisor.

    According to the diplomat, Isagulyan had admitted that the police
    operations were sanctioned by the second president.

    Early in the morning on March 1, police officers assaulted the peaceful
    crowd in the square on allegations of finding weapons, arm supplies
    and Molotov cocktails. Most protesters, including women, were being
    beaten in the vicinities.

    A spontaneous protest erupted hours later in Myasnikyan Square
    (outside the French and Russian Embassies) where the crowd dispersed
    from Liberty Square had gathered together to continue the rally. The
    police were redeployed in the area by the afternoon.

    The atmosphere was growing tense, with several buses being turned
    over and rumors circulating that a child had been shot to death in
    Liberty Square early in the morning.

    Rumors about deaths emerged a day later, but no exact number was
    reported.

    Days later it became clear that the violent clashes has claimed
    the lives of 10 people, with eight being civilians. More than 200
    received bodily injuries with different degrees of gravity. Over
    100 activists were jailed following the turmoil. The deceased were
    Tigran Khachatryan, Gor Kloyan, Grigor Gevorgyan, David Petrosyan,
    Armen Farmanyan, Zakar Hovhannisyan, Samvel Haurutyunyan, Hamlet
    Tadevosyan, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and Tigran Abgaryan.

    Myasnikyan Square will host a commemoration ceremony later today. A
    crowd headed by the leader of the opposition Heritage party, Raffi
    Hovhannisian and the opposition Armenian National Congress will lay
    flowers at the Myasnikyan statue to remember the victims.

    Following the March 2008 events, the Armenian directors Tigran
    Paskevichyan and Ara Shirinyan produced the documentary Armenia:
    Lost Spring, to describe the tragic developments. The film is
    presented below.

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