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  • Armenia set to declare emergency

    Armenia set to declare emergency

    Aljazeera.net, Qatar
    March 1 2008

    Armenia has warned it will declare a state of emergency if protests
    against last month's presidential poll continue.

    More than 30 people were injured on Saturday after riot police clashed
    in Yerevan, the capital, with about hundreds of demonstrators who
    had been protesting that the electon was rigged.

    The violence broke out after police began forcing protesters onto
    buses.

    Vardan Oskanian, Armenian foreign minister, said: "All orders are ready
    for the president to declare a state of emergency if the situation
    continues to worsen."

    The protesters had defied a police crackdown just hours after the
    police dispersed another rally and put Levon Ter-Petrosian, the
    opposition chief, under house arrest.

    The protesters, mostly supporters of Petrosian, have called for a
    new vote, alleging Serzh Sarkisian, the current president and former
    prime minister, had rigged the election.

    For the past 10 days opposition supporters have camped in Yerevan's
    Freedom Square in protest against the poll.

    House arrest

    Arman Musinian, a spokesman for Ter-Petrosian's party, said that
    among those arrested was former prime minister Hrant Bagratian.

    Ter-Petrosian, the opposition leader and the defeated presidential
    candidate, said he had been placed under house arrest following
    the crackdown.

    Petrosian said: "I am confined to my residence. Permission or no
    permission, we will press ahead with protests, because rallies and
    marches can only be banned when there is a state of emergency."

    Earlier Pertosian told reporters: "I am deeply convinced that even
    if Sarkisan stays on, he won't be a legitimate president. I have no
    doubt the people won't tolerate this."

    Petrosian had contested the presidential polls with a mandate against
    corruption and has since alleged massive fraud in the elections that
    replaced Robert Kocharian, the former Armenian president.

    The opposition has long accused Sarkisian of having used state
    resources to promote his candidacy, with the support of Kocharian.

    'Power grab'

    Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
    Europe (OSCE) have said that the election had mostly met international
    standards.

    Ilkka Kanerva, the current chairman of OSCE and the Finnish
    foreign minister, has condemned the use of force against peaceful
    demonstrators.

    Kanerva said: "I urge the authorities to use maximum restraint. I
    am troubled that there are reports of casualties and I urge the
    authorities to release those detained.

    "I again call on the government and the opposition to engage in
    a dialogue."

    Kocharian, the former president has described the protests as an
    attempt to grab power illegally and promised that the government's
    response would be "decisive and firm".
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