Agence France Presse
October 1, 2011 Saturday 11:26 AM GMT
Armenia opposition protest enters second day
YEREVAN, Oct 1 2011
Hundreds of Armenian opposition activists took their one-week
round-the-clock protest for snap elections into a second day on
Saturday after setting up a tent camp in a central square overnight.
The Armenian National Congress opposition alliance is trying to
maintain pressure to force presidential and parliamentary polls before
the end of the year.
“We are in a great mood and we are ready to stay here for as many
nights as are necessary so that these authorities finally go,” one of
the demonstrators, Astgik Agekian, told AFP.
Angry about poverty, alleged institutional corruption and democratic
failings, some 6,000 people rallied on Friday and police did not
intervene to stop them pitching more than 20 tents in Yerevan’s
Freedom Square.
But recent opposition rallies have been significantly smaller than
protests after disputed elections in 2008 that ended in clashes
leaving 10 people dead.
The authorities have rejected any possibility of early elections and
say the round-the-clock protest is simply a political tactic to
attract support before parliamentary polls due to be held next year.
Armenia has been through political and military turmoil since
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a series of disputed
elections and a war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
mkh-emc/sjw/ss
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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