SARGSYAN: I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MARCH 1 EVENTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.03.2008 14:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Prime Minister and President-elect
Serzh Sargsyan said he is responsible for the March 1 and 2
events. "We are also responsible, since we couldn’t prevent such
developments. Today we must think how to smooth the consequences over
but not measure the fault of everyone. All facts and circumstances
will be investigated. Those guilty will be punished," Serzh Sargsyan
said on air of the Armenian Public Television, when responding to
the questions addressed to him via Internet.
"The authorities have taken all possible measures to avoid clashes
with the opposition. The latter, however, was preparing for collisions
from the very beginning, otherwise there would not be so many batons
found in Liberty Square and there would not be severe resistance to a
police search in the morning," he said, adding, "The rally initiators
got panicky while the other opposition accepted the proposal on
cooperation."
He refuted the hearsay that the law enforcers offered the protesters
to hold the action in Dinamo stadium or in the square in front
of the railroad station. "The documentary sequences show that the
oppositionists were offered to hold the rally at Matenadaran, but they
refused because Ter-Petrosyan had conveyed an order to stay near the
French Embassy. People started placing barricades, turn over buses
and trolleybuses," the PM said.
Commenting on the exaggerated number of victims, Mr Sargsyan said,
"It’s impossible to conceal the real number of the killed. "Eight
people died. It’s too much. One death is too much," he said, adding,
"Over 200 policemen and 50 civilians were injured. Police did not
use weapons against the rioters."