Eight people died in clashes between police and opposition supporters that led the president to declare a sweeping, 20-day state of emergency, officials said Sunday.
Police fired in the air and let off tear gas to break up Saturday’s gathering of some 15,000 protestors upset over alleged fraud in the Feb. 19 presidential election. On Sunday, troops and armored vehicles patrolled the main streets of Armenia’s capital.
It was some of the worst political violence to hit post-Soviet Armenia, and it led the opposition leader to also appeal for calm.
Sustained unrest in Armenia could undermine stability in the volatile Caucasus region. Armenia borders Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbaijan — countries important for producing or shipping oil and gas to Western customers.
Police spokesman Sayat Shirinian said Sunday that eight people were killed and 33 officers wounded. He did not say if the dead were police or protesters.
State of emergency declared
President Robert Kocharian declared the state of emergency Saturday night. After the announcement, a few thousand people remained in the streets, some holding peaceful vigils. By morning, some streets were littered with the hulks of burned cars and troops carrying assault rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests stood on street corners.
The demonstrators supported opposition presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian, who was being prevented from leaving his residence. From his home, he recorded an appeal overnight to the protesters to go home.
Aides drove through the center of Yerevan playing the recording from loudspeakers atop cars, and most demonstrators appeared to be gone by Sunday morning.
“Our forces are unequal, we are surrounded by troops and our president suggests we disperse,” Ter-Petrosian said in the recording.
Ter-Petrosian finished a distant second to Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian in the official results from the election. Sarkisian is a close colleague of Kocharian, who is stepping down because the constitution does not permit him to seek a third term.
Opponents allege the government manipulated the vote count. They also allege the election was fundamentally unfair, saying the government exerted pressure on people to vote for Sarkisian and pressured news media into skewing coverage to favor him.
Ter-Petrosian has appealed to the Constitutional Court to overturn the results.
His legal status was uncertain Sunday. Security police were preventing him from leaving his residence, but he told reporters that no formal house arrest had been announced against him.
Armenia’s parliament approved the state of emergency decree overnight in an extraordinary session. It imposes severe restrictions, including banning all mass gatherings and ordering that news media reports on domestic political matters include only official information.
Police granted wider rights
The order also says police have the right to restrict movement and to search private and public vehicles.
Kocharian claimed that some of the demonstrators were armed and that police said they had been shot at.
“What’s going on now is not a political process. It has gone over the edge,” he said at a late-night news conference. “I appeal to the people of Armenia to show restraint and understanding.”
Arman Musinian, an opposition spokesman, said earlier that police had planted weapons near the protesters to create a pretext for arrests.
Witnesses told The Associated Press they had seen demonstrators injured in the nighttime police action, but reports of the deaths did not come until Sunday morning.
The Health Ministry said earlier that at least 31 people — including six police officers — had sought treatment after police broke up a tent camp Saturday morning.
At least 55 people were detained during the day’s unrest, said Sona Truzian, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general’s office. Fifteen were later formally arrested.
Thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of protesters have rallied daily since the election.
