ARMENIA STATE OF EMERGENCY LIFTED, HUNDREDS GATHER TO PROTEST ARRESTS
International Herald Tribune
March 21 2008
France
YEREVAN, Armenia: Several hundred opposition supporters rallied
across the Armenian capital on Friday after authorities lifted a
20-day state of emergency.
Friday’s demonstrators protested the March 1 arrests of dozens of
opposition activists after clashes between police and protesters.
Eight people were killed and dozens were injured in those clashes.
That was followed by the state of emergency, banning public gatherings,
which ended at midnight Thursday.
The latest demonstrators lit candles and held pictures of those
arrested March 1. Police officers approached the protesters, who
formed a chain across downtown Yerevan, urging them to disperse but
not using force.
Several protesters yelled curses at the police, but there were
no clashes.
The violence March 1 broke out after police forcibly dispersed
protesters who claimed the government rigged the Feb. 19 presidential
election and demanded a new vote.
According to the official results, the favored candidate of outgoing
President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian, won nearly
53 percent of the vote, while opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian
received about 21 percent. Sarkisian is scheduled to be inaugurated
April 9.
The opposition has alleged the election was affected by widespread
fraud and sometimes violent pressure on its supporters.
Sarkisian said Thursday that 106 of the scores of opposition
supporters who were detained remain under arrest, including some of
Ter-Petrosian’s former allies.
"We are demanding that the authorities explain to us why these 106
people have been arrested," said one protester, Armen Martirosian, 38.
The opposition has capitalized on widespread public anger over
poverty, which remains endemic in Armenia despite an economic growth
of recent years.
"We have nothing to eat," said another protester, Alla Arutyunian.
"I’m wondering whether Sarkisian and his family could survive on the
money they give me."
Western countries have expressed concern about the government’s
crackdown, while Russia – which has close ties with Armenia and
maintains a military base in the ex-Soviet republic – expressed
support for law and order.