March 02, 2008
ARMENIA'S President Robert Kocharyan has declared a state of emergency in the capital and vowed to deploy troops against opposition protesters after riots in which at least one person died.
Witnesses said many people were injured in pitched battles in Yerevan's central streets, which flared up when police tried to disperse demonstrators protesting at a presidential election they say was rigged.Mr Kocharyan accused the protesters of shooting at unarmed police and said he would use troops to restore law and order. A Reuters correspondent saw a column of army trucks on the main road heading towards Yerevan.
Footage shot by a freelance cameraman working for Reuters showed police shooting tracer bullets into the air from behind a line of buses. Demonstrators, armed with metal rods and sticks, pelted police with Molotov cocktails, setting cars ablaze.
Television pictures also showed a body being driven from the scene on the roof of a car, held in place by demonstrators hanging on to the side of the vehicle.
"They attacked peaceful demonstrations in parts of Yerevan," opposition official Alexander Arzumanian said. "But the people are very resolute and they will struggle for their rights ... There are a lot of wounded people".
The unrest risks destabilising Armenia, a republic of 3.2 million people in the Caucasus mountains that is now emerging as a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea.
One demonstrator said one person was killed by a bullet "which must have ricocheted as police were shooting in the air to disperse an opposition rally being held nearby".
The presidential press service said Mr Kocharyan had signed a decree declaring a state of emergency until March 20 "to prevent a threat to constitutional order". The measure bans all rallies and protests and imposes censorship on the media.
Several thousand opposition supporters had been protesting daily in Yerevan's Freedom Square since former premier Serzh Sarksyan, a Kocharyan ally, was elected president on February 19.
Official results declared Mr Sarksyan the winner in the first round but the opposition alleged ballot-stuffing and intimidation. The main challenger, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was put under house arrest in the capital.
Some protesters near the mayor's office held crowbars and metal rods. Some decanted fuel from the buses into bottles.
The Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, called for calm and sent priests to visit victims of the riots in hospital.
Disputed presidential elections sparked mass unrest in two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, that ultimately toppled their long-serving leaders.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, referring to police action against the earlier sit-in, said it "condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators" and urged the authorities "to use maximum restraint."
Police said they moved in after receiving information a coup was being prepared. They said they had seized pistols and grenades. The opposition denied the charges and said it was using only peaceful means.
Armenia's Health Ministry said 31 people, including six policemen, had been admitted to hospital after the clashes.
