CALM URGED AMID ARMENIA ELECTION CLASHES
CNN International
March 2 2008
(CNN) — Armenian opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian appealed to
his followers to go home Sunday to avoid the kind of violent clashes
between police and protesters that left nine people dead over the
weekend.
Opposition supporters wave an Armenian flag during a protest rally
in Yerevan on Saturday.
Ter-Petrosian vowed he would continue to protest the election results
peacefully through legal means.
Aides drove through the capital city of Yerevan playing the appeal over
loudspeakers and by Sunday, few demonstrators remained on the streets.
Chaos in the former Soviet republic could affect the stability of the
region, which plays an important role in producing and supplying oil
and gas to the West. Armenia, population 3 million, lies a east of
Turkey, south of Georgia and north of Iran.
"We will avoid any public meeting and marches, and we will concentrate
on the constitutional court where we are expecting the case to be heard
and discussed (Tuesday)," opposition spokesman Arman Musinyan told CNN
Sunday. Watch a report on clashes between police and the opposition "
The clashes Saturday over alleged election fraud killed at least
nine people and injured 17 police officers, a government official
told CNN Sunday.
Among the dead was one police officer and eight civilians, the official
said. Sixteen officers were hospitalized with bullet wounds.
A 17th officer was in critical condition.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency
Saturday night that he hoped would bring order to Yerevan. The state
of emergency could last until March 20, officials said. Watch Ghazarian
discuss the situation in Armenia "
The clashes began when authorities used force to clear Freedom Square
of thousands of demonstrators who had camped there for the past 10
days, according to a U.S. Embassy official.
The embassy official estimated that the demonstrations in Freedom
Square grew to as many as 60,000 Armenians at times over the last
10 days.
"This government tried to do everything to stop our people from
peacefully protesting," Musinyan said. "For nine days, no car was
burned, no window was broken, nothing. They just saw that people
will not go for any provocation. That’s why they tried to forcefully
disperse them."
Armenian police said they moved in Saturday morning because they had
information some demonstrators were armed with weapons and explosives.
The protests began soon after the Feb. 19 presidential election, when
Ter-Petrosian lost to Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, the handpicked
successor of the outgoing president.
The opposition party immediately accused the government of vote fraud
and demanded that the results be voided.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
monitored the election and concluded that it was mostly in line with
international standards, although it did include some criticism in
its report.