ARMENIA EMERGENCY LIFTED, BUT PROTESTS CONTINUE
Reuters
March 21 2008
UK
YEREVAN, March 21 (Reuters) – A state of emergency introduced in
Armenia following post-election clashes that left eight people dead
was lifted on Friday.
Troops left the streets of the capital Yerevan that they had occupied
since the March 1 clampdown, but they were replaced by a heavy
police presence that blocked around 1,500 protesters assembling in
the city centre.
Carrying candles and pictures of those who died, the protesters
instead walked through the city’s main streets in a vigil they
said was to remember the victims of the violent clashes, a Reuters
eyewitness reported.
Addressing the crowd, a police officer urged the protesters to
disperse: "We are all Armenians, please go home."
The country’s outgoing president, Robert Kocharyan, declared the
20-day state of emergency on March 1 after the street battles in
Yerevan between police and opposition protesters, who were demanding
the annulment of a presidential election.
Kocharyan is to step down next month when his long-time ally and
prime minister, Serzh Sarksyan, takes over as president.
Sarksyan defeated opposition candidate and former President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan in the Feb. 19 election.
The country moved towards a political resolution on Friday when
four political parties signed an agreement establishing a coalition,
which included one of the parties that had previously participated
in opposition protests.
But Ter-Petrosyan continues to insist the election was rigged and
blames police brutality for the violence that also left about 200
people injured. (Reporting by Hasmik Lazarian, writing by Conor
Sweeney)