Armenian President Kocharyan declares state of emergency
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
- 13 October 2009: Turkey and Armenia sign historic agreement
- 24 July 2009: Armenia to send military forces to Afghanistan
- 15 August 2008: Swedish wrestler throws away Olympic bronze medal, leaves
- 29 June 2008: Cargo plane crash in Sudan leaves seven dead with one survivor
- 25 May 2008: Dima Bilan wins the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest for Russia
Armenian president Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in Armenia Saturday, after policemen used tear gas and firearms to disperse protests over alleged fraud in last month's presidential election. At least eight persons were left dead in clashes between police and opposition.
The announcement came from President Kocharyan's office shortly after riot police suppressed the rally of roughly 15,000 protesters. Earlier, demonstrators living in tents near the city of Yerevan's mayor's office were forcibly evacuated using batons.
"They attacked peaceful demonstrations in parts of Yerevan," said opposition official Alexander Arzumanian. "But the people are very resolute and they will struggle for their rights... There are a lot of wounded people".
Witnesses told the Associated Press about people being injured in the nighttime police action, although there were no official reports on casualties at the time. The health ministry said that at least 30 people, including six police officers, have sought treatment.
Kocharyan's office said that the state of emergency will be in effect for 20 days. The measure imposes a ban on all mass gatherings and an order that news reports of Armenian matters only include official information.
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked, multi-party, and democratic nation-state. It is still technically at war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the de facto independent republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sources
- Hasmik Mkrtchyan "Armenia declares state of emergency as riots rage". The New Zealand Herald, March 2, 2008
- "Armenian president declares state of emergency". CNN, March 2, 2008
- Avet Demourian, AP "Armenia Declares State of Emergency". Google News, March 2, 2008
- "Protesters pull back in Armenia". BBC News Online, March 2, 2008
- Reporting: Hasmik Mkrtchyan; writing: Michael Stott; editing: Dmitry Solovyov "Armenia president declares state of emergency". Reuters, March 1, 2008
 Share this: |
 |
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. |
