Agence France Presse — English
February 25, 2008 Monday 1:51 PM GMT

Mayor demands end to Armenia election protests: statement

YEREVAN, Feb 25 2008

Officials in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday ordered an end to
a six-day demonstration against alleged rigging of a presidential
election.

The mayor’s office issued a statement calling on demonstrators to
"end the holding of unauthorised protests" which had become an
"unacceptable situation."

The statement ordered protestors "not to obstruct the free movement
of traffic and not to prevent citizens from free movement… and to
restore normal life in the capital."

Several thousand opposition supporters continued to gather Monday on
Freedom Square outside Yerevan’s opera house demanding the result of
the February 19 presidential election be overturned.

Much larger crowds numbering 20,000 to 30,000 supporters of
opposition leader and former president Levon Ter-Petrosian had
rallied for the previous five days. Official results from the
election gave victory to Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis, representing the Council of
Europe, told journalists after meeting Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian in Yerevan, that "violence is something that must be
avoided at all costs."

"I hope very much there will be no escalation," he said.

Kubis said he was "very glad there is a place for this kind of
manifestation" and praised the government for "acting in a
responsible way, with restraint."

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe has 47 member states and
upholds democracy, human rights and the rule of law.