International Herald Tribune, France
Feb. 26 2008

Armenian police detain more activists as gov’t, opposition supporters
hold dueling rallies

The Associated Press
Published: February 26, 2008

YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenian police detained more opposition activists
Tuesday and pro-government and opposition forces staged dueling
rallies as tensions remained high over the disputed results of last
week’s presidential election.

Outgoing President Robert Kocharian, meanwhile, warned that
authorities were losing patience with the continuing protests.

Officials said Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian won the vote outright,
but supporters of opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian have
rejected that result and have tried to stage round-the-clock
demonstrations in an effort to force a new vote.

Hundreds of protesters have been staying overnight in tents on a
central square in Yerevan. On Tuesday, in the largest such gathering
to date, tens of thousands rallied in one section of the city calling
on election authorities to annul the Feb. 19 vote and to release
detained activists.

"For my first order, I award Serge Sarkisian a military cross of
honor," Ter-Petrosian told the roaring crowd. "Thanks to him, the
number of people coming to our meetings has doubled – people left his
meeting to come to ours."

On another square just a few hundred meters (yards) away, as many as
100,000 people gathered in support of Sarkisian, who said he was
prepared for discussions with opposition leaders, but also warned of
potential violence.

"Now is not the time to gather stones; just the opposite, it is the
time to throw off the stones from our shoulders and look to the
future with optimism," he said.

Police officials and opposition groups said Tuesday that more people,
including several activists, were detained on various charges, but it
was unclear precisely how many. A total of 10 people, many of them
opposition supporters, were in city jails on Tuesday and at least
half had been charged with public disorder and similar charges.

Three opposition activists were released late Tuesday.

Tensions are mounting as pressure grows on the government in the poor
Caucasus nation to dispel any doubts about the vote and keep the
protests from gaining momentum. Western election observers have said
there were concerns about the vote count, but issued a generally
positive assessment.

On Monday, a businessman and leading backer of Ter-Petrosian was
detained by police and they said guns, knives, bulletproof vests and
ammunition were seized from a three-car convoy that a
pro-Ter-Petrosian lawmaker was driving in. Authorities have also
arrested two Ter-Petrosian supporters who held high-level posts when
he was Armenia’s president in the 1990s.

In an interview with state television, Kocharian signaled that the
government was running out of patience with the demonstrators.

"I ask: is there a limit to our patience? How many more days will
this continue?" he said. "It’s time for people to calm down, come to
their senses."

Also Tuesday. the ex-Soviet republic’s top security agency issued a
statement saying opposition supporters were plotting to seize a
television broadcast tower – a charge immediately denied.

"It’s another political attempt of psychological pressure. There is
nothing to comment on," said Arman Musinian, a spokesman for
Ter-Petrosian.

The standoff has raised concerns about stability in the volatile,
strategic country at the junction of the energy-rich Caspian Sea
region and southern Europe, with Iran and Russia – which has close
ties and maintains a military base in Armenia – nearby.