A1 Plus | 15:19:39 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
PEOPLE PARTY HEADQUARTER SURROUNDED
Police prevented People Party’s leader Stepan Demirchyan from giving news
conference by surrounding his office.
Demirchyan could do little more than giving brief answers to the questions
journalists put to him. He denounced the law enforcement’s last night attack
on demonstrators as terror against own people.

A1 Plus | 14:38:03 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
RESULT OF NIGHT VIOLENCE
Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper’s correspondent Hayk Gevorgyan is on the photo.
Ten demonstrators rushed Monday night into Emergency Hospital of Yerevan’s
Nor Nork district with various injuries are already undergone medical
examination.
Five of them were released from the hospital, three are kept in hospital as
they health is in precarious state, and two transferred to neurosurgical
hospital with suspected brain injuries.
According to unconfirmed information, Haykakan Zhamanak correspondent Hayk
Gevorgyan was taken to police station right from the hospital.

A1 Plus | 12:08:49 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY
Levon Grigoryan’s blood-stained jacket on the picture.
Journalists became victims of brutality as well.
Aykakan Zhamanak newspaper reporter Hayk Gevorgyan was badly beaten and his
camera broken. Another correspondent of the same newspaper was rushed in
hospital with major injuries.
Policemen dressed as civilians severely beat Russian ORT TV channel’s
cameraman Levon Grigoryan on the scene and broke his BETACAM camera.

US raps Armenia for crackdown on opposition protests
Tue Apr 13, 3:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States expressed concern about the
“sharp escalation” in tension between Armenia’s government and the
opposition, and rapped Yerevan for its crackdown on demonstrators
calling for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian.
At the same time, the State Department called on both the authorities
and the opposition to engage in dialogue and avoid any actions that
could lead to violence or infringe on the right to peaceful assembly.
“The United States is concerned about the current political situation
in Armenia, particularly the sharp escalation in confrontation between
the government and the opposition,” spokesman Richard Boucher said in
a statement.
His comments came after Armenian opposition leaders vowed to continue
their campaign to force Kocharian’s resignation following the breakup
of an anti-government demonstration by police with water cannons,
arrests of protestors and the alleged ransacking of two political
party offices.
The police have defended their tactics, but the United States appeared
to side with the protestors, who claimed the authorities had used
indiscriminate violence against their peaceful demonstrations.
“Physical assaults, raids on political party offices and widespread
arrests and detentions of opposition activists by the police do not
contribute to creating an atmosphere conducive to political dialogue,”
Boucher said.
“We call on all sides to respect the role of peaceful assembly and to
take all steps to prevent violence,” he added.
Armenia’s opposition has been staging almost nightly protests in
Yerevan for the past week to push its demands for the resignation of
Kocharian — blamed by many Armenians for repressive rule and low
standards of living.
The stand-off with the opposition stems from a presidential election
last March that Kocharian’s opponents alleged he rigged to secure a
second term in office. International observers said at the time the
vote fell short of democratic standards.

A1 Plus | 16:33:29 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
NIGHT ASSAULT WITNESSES COMMENTING ON POLICE’S LIBELOUS STATEMENT
The rally participants denounced the police statement about bottles with
explosives and stones thrown by demonstrators as a malign slander.
Plastic bottles with water were in hands of protesters, they explain. They
find the police statement about stones absolutely ridiculous, as there is
not a single stone on Baghramyan Avenue.
They insist the police assaulted innocent marchers without any illegal move
from their side.
Witnesses say elderly women, young people, journalists and cameramen were
thrown down over the night. The authorities do everything to suppress the
truth.

A1 Plus | 17:58:18 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
TENANTS OF NEARBY HOUSES SHOW SYMPATHY FOR DEMONSTRATORS
Witnesses of today’s nightmare tell tenants of nearby apartment houses
seeing assault on innocent people and wanting to stop violence against
demonstrators threw onions, potatoes and eggs at police officers.
They say especially women seemed to be panic-stricken. Many of them were so
exhausted by long hours of standing on their feet that couldn’t even run
away to save themselves from beating.

Today in History – April 24
.c The Associated Press
Today is Saturday, April 24, the 115th day of 2004. There are 251 days
left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 24, 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Library
of Congress.
On this date:
In 1792, the national anthem of France, “La Marseillaise,” was
composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
In 1877, federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the
North’s post-Civil War rule in the South.
In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting
America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Empire began the brutal mass deportation
of Armenians during World War I.
In 1916, some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising by
seizing several key sites in Dublin. (The rising was put down by
British forces several days later.)
In 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II.
In 1962, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first
satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Calif.,
and Westford, Mass.
In 1968, leftist students at Columbia University in New York began a
week-long occupation of several campus buildings.
In 1970, the People’s Republic of China launched its first satellite,
which kept transmitting a song, “The East is Red.”
In 1980, the United States launched an abortive attempt to free the
American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of
eight U.S. servicemen.
Ten years ago: Bosnian Serbs, threatened with NATO air strikes,
grudgingly gave up their three-week assault on Gorazde, burning houses
and blowing up a water treatment plant as they withdrew.
Five years ago: On the second day of a NATO summit, the alliance ran
into objections from Russia and questions among its own members about
enforcing an oil embargo against Yugoslavia by searching ships at
sea. President Clinton urged Americans to be patient with the bombing
strategy in the meantime.
One year ago: U.S. forces in Iraq took custody of Tariq Aziz, the
former Iraqi deputy prime minister. China shut down a Beijing hospital
as the global death toll from SARS surpassed 260. In Red Lion, Pa., a
14-year-old boy shot and killed his school principal inside a crowded
junior high cafeteria, then killed himself.
Today’s Birthdays: Critic Stanley Kauffmann is 88. Actor J.D. Cannon
is 82. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 70. Author Sue Grafton is 64.
Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 62. Chicago Mayor Richard
M. Daley is 62. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is
61. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is
59. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 51. Actor Michael O’Keefe is
49. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 47. Rock musician Billy Gould
is 41. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 40. Actor Djimon
Hounsou is 40. Rock musician Patty Schemel is 37. Rock musician Aaron
Comess (Spin Doctors) is 36. Actor Derek Luke is 30. Country singer
Rebecca Lynn Howard is 25. Singer Kelly Clarkson (“American Idol”)
is 22.
Thought for Today: “I know of no method to secure the repeal of bad
or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.” –
Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. President (1822-1885).
04/12/04 12:15 EDT

A1 Plus | 13:18:49 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
AUTHORITIES MAKE EFFORTS TO RETAIN POWER
Water-jets moved toward the crowd paving way for armored soldiers. The
soldiers attacked the people who gathered outside the National Assembly
building in peaceful demonstration Monday night and beat them with
bludgeons.
Great numbers of wounded demonstrators were rushed in hospitals with various
injuries.

A1 Plus | 18:33:30 | 13-04-2004 | Politics |
KOCHARYAN OUTDID TER-PETROSYAN IN HIS DETERMINATION TO STAMP ON PEOPLE’S
PROTEST
On Tuesday, National Democratic Union leader Vazgen Manukyan, speaking at a
news conference, compared today’s violence with the 1996 events and said the
then authorities resorted to force after people stormed National Assembly
building.
Unlike the then leadership, the current authorities “launched military
operation” against absolutely peaceful demonstration, he said.

Armenian president, governing coalition discuss current situation
Mediamax news agency
13 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today discussed the situation in
the country with representatives of the ruling coalition parties and
heads of the People’s Deputy and the United Workers’ Party deputies’
groups.
“Robert Kocharyan outlined in detail the prevailing situation and
measures dictated by it,” Mediamax today learnt from the Armenian
presidential press service. “The collocutors also exchanged views
regarding future possible developments,” according to the presidential
press service.
The ruling coalition consists of the Republican Party of Armenia,
Orinats Yerkir Law-Governed Country Party and the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun.