ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PROTESTERS DETAINED FOR WEAPONS PLOT
Agence France Presse — English
February 26, 2008 Tuesday 5:25 PM GMT
Armenia’s secret service has detained several opposition protesters
for holding a cache of arms and plotting to seize state television
and radio stations, the service said in a statement on Tuesday.
The announcement came on the seventh day of mass round-the-clock
protests on Yerevan’s Freedom Square by supporters of former president
Levon Ter-Petrosian against what supporters say was a rigged election
on February 19.
"The National Security Service received a signal that on Freedom
Square, supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosian were considering seizing
state television, television transmitters and the radio building with
the aim of organising a live broadcast," read a statement from the
National Security Service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
"During the operation, several people were detained and a large amount
of arms and ammunition were confiscated," the statement said.
The opposition supporters were detained overnight.
In a separate incident, Armenian authorities said Sunday they had
detained several opposition activists, including a former prosecutor
and an ex-minister, on suspicion of illegal weapons possession.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Freedom Square on Tuesday in
the largest protests to date. President-elect Serzh Sarkisian addressed
several thousand supporters in a smaller protest on a nearby square.
Official results from the election gave outright victory to Sarkisian,
the prime minister, with 53 percent of the vote.
Ter-Petrosian came second with 21.5 percent.
Ter-Petrosian has alleged that dozens of his activists were beaten
and that ballot stuffing, multiple voting and voter intimidation were
widespread on election day.
But observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe described the election as "mostly" in line with international
standards.