ARMENIAN OPPOSITION HOLDS FIRST SANCTIONED RALLY SINCE CLASHES

Agence France Presse
April 19 2008

About 4,000 people rallied in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Saturday
for the first sanctioned opposition protest in the ex-Soviet republic
since post-election clashes left 10 people dead last month.

Armenian authorities, who have been under international pressure to
lift restrictions on public gatherings imposed following the unrest,
granted a permit for the demonstration earlier this week.

Gathered near the Yerevan mayor’s office and the French embassy,
where the clashes broke out on March 1, opposition supporters chanted
"Freedom!" and "Levon for president!" in reference to former president
and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian.

The protest took place without incident and police kept a low
profile. Protesters dispersed after about two hours, the time allotted
for the demonstration.

"They cannot force us into silence," said Anna Hakobian, wife of
prominent opposition activist Nikol Pashinian, who has gone into
hiding and is sought by police. "They cannot stop us. We will fight
to the end and we will win."

Two police and eight civilians were killed as a result of the unrest,
which saw opposition supporters fight running battles with security
forces on the streets of Yerevan.

The violence broke out after police moved in to clear thousands of
protesters who had rallied for 11 days to protest the victory of
outgoing prime minister Serzh Sarkisian in a February 19 presidential
election.

They alleged that the ballot had been rigged in Sarkisian’s favour
and that Ter-Petrosian was the real winner. Dozens more protesters
were injured, many from gunshot wounds.

Sarkisian was sworn in as Armenia’s president on April 9.

A mountainous country of about three million people — wedged between
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey — Armenia has experienced
repeated political violence and post-election protests since gaining
its independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.