FORCE HAS BEEN APPLIED AGAIN
by Lusine Barseghyan

Haykakan Zhamanak
April 10 2008
Armenia

Yesterday [9 April] a ceremony mourning 40 days for the victims of
the 1 March events [police crackdown on opposition protest which
left 8 people dead, death toll rose to 10 later] took place in the
city centre. And as was expected, many Armenian citizens came to the
Myasnikov monument [the scene of the incident one kilometre away from
Liberty Square where the opposition rally was held] to express their
respect to memory of the victims.

Despite the fact that nobody has organized any protest action, the
mourning event quickly turned into an anti-government rally. For some
time police tried to disperse those gathered, but the determination of
the latter as well as the presence of various international journalists
forced them to retreat. The action lasted for about two hours. During
all this period drivers of many cars passing by saluted the protesters
to express their support to the gathering.

At about 2000 [1500 gmt] yesterday the police with truncheons and
electric wires attacked about 300 citizens in Republic Square [the
venue of the mourning ceremony]. The latter gathered near Marriott
Armenia Hotel. The police, who had already met the supporters of
[first Armenian President] Levon Ter-Petrosyan, approached the latter,
cordoned them off and started pushing them towards the building of
the Ministry of Territorial Administration.

On their way people started chanting "Le-von president, Serzhik
[Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan], go away, struggle, struggle till
the end". From the square where the Colourful Sky [Hot air balloon]
event took place, other people joined the chanting protesters. Close
to the Noyan Tapan stationery store, police attacked people and
started violently beating them. The police officers beat Karabakh
committee member Samvel Ghazaryan, twisted an arm of a young man,
6-7 police officers surrounded him and hit him on the head.

Incidentally, among the attackers there were young people in plain
clothes with the [member of the ruling coalition] Republican Party
of Armenia symbols on them. Some people left the Republic Square,
while the others mixed with the crowd. The police officers detained
other participants of the event who simply approached the police and
asked why they were doing this.

Later supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan gathered in North Avenue and
started chanting from there "Le-von, president, Serzhik, go away,
struggle, struggle till the end" etc. However, the police again pushed
them away from there saying that their gathering was illegal. Then
the protesters returned to the Republic Square and started chanting
there. The police again applied force against the people. But the
protesters didn’t leave the Republic Square till the end of the event.

While Serzh Sargsyan was taking presidential oath

When Serzh Sargsyan was taking an oath with his hand on the Armenian
Constitution and the Bible in the Spendiarov Opera Theatre, several
thousands of citizens chanted "Serzh, murderer, Serzhik, go away,
struggle, struggle till the end". [Passage omitted: more details on
people gathering in Yerevan streets]

Leader of the People’s Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchyan also came
to express his respect to memory of the 1 March victims. He said
that the act of violence applied against people on 1 March could by
no means be justified. [Passage omitted: Demirchyan expands on this]

He also said the opposition wanted that political persecution be
terminated, political prisoners released, the law on rallies and
demonstrations be reconsidered. Demirchyan asked: for how long the
people will be denied their right for rallies?

[Passage omitted for other speeches]

Republic Party Chairman Aram Sargsyan, Social-Democratic Hnchak Party
Chairwoman Lyudmila Sargsyan, New Times party board member Hrachya
Sargsyan, Heritage party representatives also came to mourn the 1
March victims. Aram Sargsyan said that the pan-national movement will
definitely end with people’s victory.

Yesterday the protest actions also took place in the vicinity of the
Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the Central
Election Commission, the OSCE Yerevan office. [Passage omitted:
more about protests]

Yesterday the actions of protest took place near a number of foreign
embassies in the Republic of Armenia.