ARMENIA TO LIFT EMERGENCY RULE, BUT DEMO BAN REMAINS
Agence France Presse
March 20, 2008 Thursday 12:59 PM GMT
Armenian President Robert Kocharian said a state of emergency imposed
after clashes in Yerevan earlier this month will be lifted from Friday
but a ban on demonstrations will remain in place.
"Today is the last day of the state of emergency in Yerevan. I do
not have any reason to extend it," Kocharian said on Thursday at
his last news conference before new president Serzh Sarkisian, the
current prime minister, is inaugurated on April 9.
"I need to pass on a stable country and government to the newly
elected president," Kocharian said.
Despite lifting the state of emergency, Kocharian said that rallies
would not be allowed.
"Whilst the people who took up arms against the police are still on
the wanted list there is no guarantee that they will not try again
to destabilise the situation," he said.
The 20-day state of emergency was declared on March 1 after eight
people died in street battles between riot police and opposition
supporters in the capital Yerevan. The violence also injured dozens,
many from gunshot wounds.
Police arrested more than 50 people in connection with the unrest,
which broke out after riot police dispersed protesters who had rallied
for 11 days against a presidential election officially won by Prime
Minister Sarkisian.
Opposition supporters claim the election was rigged to ensure
Sarkisian’s victory over former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, though
foreign observers said the vote was mostly in line with international
standards.
A mountainous country of about three million people wedged between
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey, Armenia has seen repeated
political violence since gaining its independence with the Soviet
collapse of 1991.