Ter-Petrosian Defiant As Supporters Clash With Police
By Ruzanna Stepanian and Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
March 1 2008
Thousands of angry opposition supporters again gathered in Yerevan
and clashed with police on Saturday as their leader, former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian, pledged to continue to challenge the official
results of Armenia’s presidential election.
The rally broke out spontaneously on a street in downtown Yerevan
just hours after security forces broke up a non-stop vigil kept
by Ter-Petrosian supporters in the city’s Liberty Square. Hundreds
of riot police and interior troops, backed by water cannons, were
rushed to the street outside the French Embassy to try to disperse
the crowd. The protesters chanting "Freedom!" and "Levon!" confronted
them with sticks and stones.
Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, and an
opposition parliamentarian, Anahit Bakhshian, were at the scene,
trying unsuccessfully to prevent the clash. Despite police warnings
about "unpredictable" consequences, the number of protesters grew
rapidly early in the afternoon. Law-enforcement bodies cordoned off
the entire area to keep the crowd from moving to Liberty Square and
key government buildings.
Many of the protesters appeared to have participated in the overnight
vigil in the square. Some bore traces of violence on their heads and
faces. Ter-Petrosian aides hundreds of people were injured during
the break-up of the non-stop protest.
Ter-Petrosian, meanwhile, held a news conference in his house outside
the city center where he claimed to have been forcibly taken from
Liberty Square by security officers led by the chief of President
Robert Kocharian’s security service. He said they banned him from
leaving the house and receiving visitors. However, security officers
deployed outside Ter-Petrosian’s home insisted that he is not under
house arrest.
"I don’t understand how the international community could tolerate
what happened last night," Ter-Petrosian told journalists. "I have
no doubts that the people won’t come to terms with this reality. We
have a new people who have ridden themselves of fear. In the past
five months we have created a new society, civil society"
"Even if Serzh Sarkisian miraculously becomes president, I can’t
imagine how that president will rule these people," he said.
Ter-Petrosian said he and his allies, some of whom arrested by the
police, will continue to stage street protests despite the crackdown.
He argued that such protests will be lawful because the authorities
have not declared a state of emergency.
"We will use all means stemming from law," said the ex-president. "We
will demand permissions for rallies, marches, pickets. Regardless of
whether they give [such permission] we have the right to organize our
events as we have done before because there is no state of emergency.
"We will come out. Let them beat us again. Let them arrest us again."
"Rallies may erupt spontaneously," added Ter-Petrosian. "We must
control and manage them. If I am allowed to get out of here, I will
naturally be with the people."
Ter-Petrosian’s campaign office said at least 11 opposition activists,
including former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratian, were detained in
outside Liberty Square earlier in the day. It said six other activists
remain unaccounted for.