YEREVAN: OPPOSITION MEETINGS BREAK UP
A special operation for driving the protesters from the Marshal Bagramyan Avenue, where the presidential palace and the parliament building are situated, began at 02.00, local time. After the police used water cannons, the participants in the protest action, which was planned to be held for an indefinite period of time, had to take to flight. Fortunately, there were no casualties. According to some reports, several policemen and demonstrators were injured. At present the area, where the protest demonstration was held, is blocked by the traffic police.
According to unverified information, arrests were made in the headquarters of the opposition. The press service of the police did not supply any official information on the incident so far.
The radical opposition failed to make April 12 a decisive day in their struggle against President Robert Kocharyan, whom they regard as “not legitimate” and elected as a result of vote rigging at last year’s elections.
The opposition began with the demand to hold a referendum on confidence in the authorities, which was rejected by the parliamentary majority. Several days ago they openly raised the question on removing the president from his post.
The Constitutional Court of Armenia confirmed, however, that its last year’s ruling with the recommendation to hold the referendum on confidence in the authorities within a year was not mandatory, that it was only a recommendation, which could not have any legal consequences.
The opposition organised a rally on Monday, in which some 8,000 people took part. After the rally they marched in the direction of the presidential residence, but were stopped by the police. Another rally was started, at which speeches of opposition members alternated with pieces of a concert performance.
The protesters demanded a meeting with the speaker of the Armenian parliament and with the head of the Armenian police service, as well as the live broadcasting of the rally by all the TV companies, but their demands were not met.
The organisers of the protest action believed that a massive character of the rally and the march would be a guarantee of their success. They blocked the Marshal Bagramyan Avenue, one of the key thoroughfares of the city connecting the central part of Yerevan with its northwestern districts. Automobile traffic was disrupted in the city, and people found it difficult to get home.
The president, who remained at his working place all those days, warned in a televised interview on Thursday that the Armenian authorities “have enough resources for curbing political extremism in the country by lawful means.” He said the police had been ordered “to display maximum restraint and to take action only in desperate situations, so that no one could accuse the authorities of inadequate cruelty.”
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