Unrest in Armenia
CNN reports that the Armenian president declares state of emergency
(CNN) — Armenian President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency Saturday night after a day of clashes between police and protesters, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.
The protesters claim last month’s presidential election was rigged.
The state of emergency will “hopefully bring some order” to the capital, Yerevan, said Salpi Ghazarian, assistant to the Armenian foreign minister, who spoke to CNN early Sunday.
The state of emergency could last until March 20, she said, but the government hopes “that it will be lifted sooner.”
The clashes began when authorities used force to clear Freedom Square of thousands of demonstrators who had camped there for the past 10 days, according to a U.S. Embassy official.
Ghazarian said the authorities “moved in” because “they thought that there were arms there, and it turned out that they were right.”
Election observers said there were minor problems with the election, but they were fair overall. The pattern would seem to be that losers in elections in the former republics of the Soviet Union see if they can change things with demonstrations. Sometimes it works, but Armenia doesn’t have the problems of many of the other republics, and, overall, the government has been democratic.
It is neighbored by Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan, so there really doesn’t need to be any more trouble in that area of the world.
