Associated Press Worldstream
February 25, 2008 Monday 6:42 PM GMT

Armenian protest over election persists as opposition faces more
arrests

By AVET DEMOURIAN, Associated Press Writer

YEREVAN Armenia

A round-the-clock protest over Armenia’s disputed presidential
election persisted Monday, while authorities placed several
opposition supporters under arrest.

Opposition supporters claim last week’s election was rigged in favor
of the country’s prime minister, Serge Sarkisian, and are demanding a
new vote. As in previous days, the crowd protesting in a square in
central Yerevan swelled to some 20,000 people in the afternoon, with
hundreds breaking off to march around the city.

Hundreds of protesters have been staying overnight in tents.

The government in the former Soviet republic in the Caucasus
mountains says Sarkisian won the presidency with nearly 53 percent of
the vote Feb. 19 and has called on the protesters to disperse.
Authorities have detained several allies of opposition candidate
Levon Ter-Petrosian, who claims he was robbed of victory by election
fraud.

Petros Makeian, a leading backer of Ter-Petrosian, was detained
Monday, police said. Separately, the national anti-organized-crime
police said they stopped a convoy of three vehicles in which
Khachatur Sukiasian, a lawmaker with a business background who
supports Ter-Petrosian, was traveling.

Guns, knives, bulletproof vests and ammunition were found in the
vehicles and several bodyguards were detained, police said, but
Sukiasian has immunity from prosecution as a parliament member and
was not taken into custody.

Also Monday, two Ter-Petrosian supporters who held high-level posts
when he was Armenia’s president in the 1990s were placed under arrest
on charges of violence against government authorities accusations
that apparently stemmed from clashes that police say broke out when
they were detained over the weekend.

Former Deputy Prosecutor-General Gagik Dzhangirian was detained
Saturday and Smbat Aivazian, a tax collection agency chief during
Ter-Petrosian’s presidency, was detained Sunday. In both cases,
police said weapons were found in their vehicles.

Another opposition figure, New Times party leader Aram Karapetian,
was detained Sunday. He is accused of making false accusations
against Sarkisian and President Robert Kocharian, and officers
searched the party’s office early Monday, confiscating computers, the
National Security Service said.

Meanwhile, six more Foreign Ministry officials joined a handful of
diplomats who announced their support for the opposition following
the election, saying they were disturbed by violations. The diplomats
have been fired from their posts.

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian expressed regret over the attrition
but said the government was in control.

"The opposition has been unable to shake the foundations of state
authority," Oskanian said after meeting with Slovakian Foreign
Minister Jan Kubis. He called on both sides to show restraint and
seek consensus but warned the opposition against seeking to take
power by force.

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.

While the fraud claims have struck a chord with many Armenians,
memories of severe economic hardships of the early 1990s and the
devastating conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan over the territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh are still fresh, and the desire for calm and
stability runs deep.