YEREVAN UNHAPPY WITH U.S. DIPLOMAT’S COMMENTS ON LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 12 2008
Russia

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has dismissed as unfounded the comments
made by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza on
the actions of the Armenian leadership against the opposition.

"In that case, labeling the reaction of the government as ‘a crackdown
on opposition protests’, or qualifying it as ‘harsh and brutal’ is
wrong. This was not at all an attack by policemen on civilians,"
says a statement issued by Tigran Balayan, the head of the Press
Division of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday.

"We’re astonished that even after his visit to Yerevan, after meeting
with and hearing from various official and unofficial sources Mr. Bryza
could make such arbitrary statements," it says.

"The number of wounded law enforcement officers – part of them
wounded by firearms and hand grenades – clearly demonstrates that
rioters were in possession of firearms and explosives. That coincides
with the operative information of law enforcement agencies, which had
informed the public about all this days before the events of March 1,"
Balayan says.

The radical opposition led by former presidential candidate Ter-
Petrosian held rallies and processions in central Yerevan starting
on February 20 in disagreement with the outcome of the February 19
elections won by Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. On March 1, the protest
actions degenerated into rioting and clashes between protesters and
law enforcement officers, leading to eight dead and about 180 injured.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian introduced a state of emergency
in Yerevan for a period of 20 days.