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State of emergency imposed as clashes erupt in Armenia
Agence France Presse
March 1 2008
YEREVAN (AFP) - Authorities in ex-Soviet Armenia imposed a state of
emergency Saturday after rising tension over a disputed presidential
election erupted into violent clashes between protesters and riot
police.
The state of emergency will be in effect in the capital Yerevan
until March 20 under a decree signed by President Robert Kocharian,
his office said.
"In order to end the threat to order and to defend the law and rights
of the people, I declare a state of emergency in Yerevan from March
1 to March 20," the decree stated, a presidential spokesman told AFP.
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.
AFP reporters on the scene described scenes of looting in central
Yerevan and said several dozen cars had been set alight.
The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election --
a vote Europe's main election monitoring organisation said "mostly"
met international standards.
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 the outgoing president.
Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.
Ter-Petrosian ran on an anti-corruption platform and alleged massive
fraud in the election to replace Kocharian.
The mass protests echoed other street movements that have brought
down governments in neighbouring ex-Soviet Georgia, as well as Ukraine
and Kyrgyzstan following disputed elections in the last four years.
In a statement Saturday, the current chairman of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign
Minister Ilkka Kanerva, condemned the use of force against peaceful
demonstrators in Yerevan.
"I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint," he said.
"I am troubled that there are reports of casualties. I urge the
authorities to release those detained, and I again call on the
government and the opposition to engage in dialogue."
The opposition accuses Sarkisian, who was backed by Kocharian, of
having used state resources to promote his candidacy, while activists
campaigning for Ter-Petrosian across the country were beaten up.
Though both the round-the-clock tent camp and massive daytime rallies
remained peaceful, the authorities had been warning that their patience
was wearing thin.
Kocharian has described the protests as an attempt at an illegal
power grab and promised the government's response would be "decisive
and firm".
Sarkisian tried to reach out to opponents and on Friday signed a
coalition deal with the third-placed candidate, Artur Baghdasarian.
Agence France Presse
March 1 2008
YEREVAN (AFP) - Authorities in ex-Soviet Armenia imposed a state of
emergency Saturday after rising tension over a disputed presidential
election erupted into violent clashes between protesters and riot
police.
The state of emergency will be in effect in the capital Yerevan
until March 20 under a decree signed by President Robert Kocharian,
his office said.
"In order to end the threat to order and to defend the law and rights
of the people, I declare a state of emergency in Yerevan from March
1 to March 20," the decree stated, a presidential spokesman told AFP.
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.
AFP reporters on the scene described scenes of looting in central
Yerevan and said several dozen cars had been set alight.
The protesters had massed in Yerevan for an 11th consecutive day
protesting alleged rigging of a February 19 presidential election --
a vote Europe's main election monitoring organisation said "mostly"
met international standards.
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 the outgoing president.
Official results gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian and 21.5
percent to Ter-Petrosian.
Ter-Petrosian ran on an anti-corruption platform and alleged massive
fraud in the election to replace Kocharian.
The mass protests echoed other street movements that have brought
down governments in neighbouring ex-Soviet Georgia, as well as Ukraine
and Kyrgyzstan following disputed elections in the last four years.
In a statement Saturday, the current chairman of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign
Minister Ilkka Kanerva, condemned the use of force against peaceful
demonstrators in Yerevan.
"I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint," he said.
"I am troubled that there are reports of casualties. I urge the
authorities to release those detained, and I again call on the
government and the opposition to engage in dialogue."
The opposition accuses Sarkisian, who was backed by Kocharian, of
having used state resources to promote his candidacy, while activists
campaigning for Ter-Petrosian across the country were beaten up.
Though both the round-the-clock tent camp and massive daytime rallies
remained peaceful, the authorities had been warning that their patience
was wearing thin.
Kocharian has described the protests as an attempt at an illegal
power grab and promised the government's response would be "decisive
and firm".
Sarkisian tried to reach out to opponents and on Friday signed a
coalition deal with the third-placed candidate, Artur Baghdasarian.