TANKS ON STREETS OF ARMENIAN CAPITAL AFTER EIGHT KILLED
Agence France Presse
March 3 2008
YEREVAN (AFP) – Tanks and troops patrolled the Armenian capital
Yerevan on Sunday after eight people were killed and dozens injured
during violent protests against the result of a presidential election.
Authorities imposed a state of emergency in Yerevan late on Saturday
following violent clashes between riot police and protesters.
Army chief of staff Seiran Oganian warned in televised comments that
fresh protests would be met with "a severe response."
The United States joined calls for calm from the UN and the European
Union’s foreign policy chief and Europe’s top security watchdog sent
an envoy to promote talks.
A dozen armoured personnel carriers and about 100 soldiers stood
guard outside the main government building and foreign ministry.
Several tanks could be seen at the scene of the night-time clashes.
A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said seven civilians and one
police officer had been killed. One police officer was in critical
condition and 17 had been hospitalised with gunshot wounds, she said.
The health ministry said on Sunday that 72 police and 59 civilians
had been injured in the unrest.
"The police are calling on all citizens to be careful, to hold
back and to obey all the rules of the state of emergency," a police
statement read.
The US State Department called in a statement for all sides "to avoid
further violence, act fully within the law, exercise maximum restraint,
and resume political dialogue."
The city was relatively calm on Sunday and shops and cafes around
Yerevan were open as residents examined the damage. Dozens of burnt-out
cars, stones and metal poles from the night of violence were cleared
from the streets.
Pointing to a broken shop window, 60-year-old pensioner Arman blamed
both the authorities and the protesters for the unrest.
"They both refused to back down and look — this is how it ended,"
he said.
The state of emergency will be in effect until March 20 under a decree
signed by President Robert Kocharian. It bans public demonstrations and
requires the media to put out only information from government sources.
Armenia’s National Assembly voted overnight to approve the measure.
The violence began early Saturday when riot police cleared a central
square in front of Yerevan’s opera house where protesters had been
camped since the presidential election won by Kocharian’s ally,
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.
Between 6,000 and 8,000 demonstrators quickly regrouped in another
square.
When police tried to disperse them after nightfall the protesters
fought back with petrol bombs, sticks and stones. Police used tear
gas and fired live ammunition into the air.
Protesters finally left the streets after an appeal by their leaders.
The runner-up opposition leader in the presidential election, former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian, said he was being prevented by police
from leaving his home.
Authorities said his state-assigned security detail was acting out
of concern for his safety.
Ter-Petrosian also said on Sunday the opposition may now seek to
organise protests outside the capital, where emergency rule is not
in effect.
"We might organise demonstrations in other cities not far away from
Yerevan, it would be legal," he told reporters in his home.
Ter-Petrosian blamed authorities for provoking the unrest and
criticised foreign observers for backing the elections.
"Until the attack in front of the opera everything was peaceful …
But if you had been hit on the head there, at the next demonstration
you would grab a rod to defend yourself.
"I hope the international community understands that the regime in
Armenia does not have the support of the people. This conflict will
now last five years, with full-time violence."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked "all parties to exercise
restraint" on Sunday and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Louise Arbour, said she was "deeply troubled" by the reported deaths
and injuries in Yerevan.
Europe’s main election monitoring body, the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said the election had "mostly"
met international standards.
In a statement, OSCE chairman Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva,
said he was sending a special envoy to Armenia "to try to bring both
sides to the negotiating table and to find a way out of this crisis
through political dialogue."
Official results in February gave 52.9 percent of the vote to Sarkisian
and 21.5 percent to Ter-Petrosian.