From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu Apr 10 2003 - 17:38:24 EDT
Armenian opposition rally over inauguration ends in brawl
Text of report by Armenian news agency Arminfo
Yerevan, 9 April: A rally organized by the opposition in central Yerevan
today was marked by a brawl between demonstrators and law enforcers.
Despite the efforts by the Armenian law-enforcement agencies, which
blocked the central streets of Yerevan, the opposition nonetheless
managed to stage the rally in an attempt to foil the inauguration of the
republic's president.
Arminfo reported that after the rally near Matenadaran [museum of
ancient manuscripts in central Yerevan], 2,000-3,000 people tried to
head for Republic Square where the [president's] inauguration ceremony
was held in the building of the government session hall. Special police
units equipped with shields, helmets and rubber clubs prevented them
from doing so.
The crowd literally pushed the leader of the Anrapetutyun [Republic]
Party, Albert Bazeyan, towards the police, because of which he received
several club blows on his arm and fist blows on his face. Fortunately,
Bazeyan got off with the bruises. This made the demonstrators furious,
and several women went for the policemen, beating them with their
umbrellas. The brawl started. The most "active" women were forced into
police vehicles. According to unconfirmed reports, they were taken to
the nearest police department.
The deputy chief of the Armenian police, Maj-Gen Ovanes Varyan,
"persuaded" the demonstrators to walk towards Republic Square along
Abovyan Ulitsa [street] and told MP Arshak Sadoyan that the police would
not use force at all if there were no provocations.
However, the demonstrators' way was blocked when they reached the Moskva
cinema. As reported earlier, because of the opposition rally, all the
streets adjoining the square and even a metro station were blocked by
the law-enforcement agencies.
Having spent some time there and having spoken to the police, who
refused to let through even MPs Shavarsh Kocharyan, Arshak Sadoyan,
Arutyun Grigoryan, Stepan Zakaryan and some other MPs, the demonstrators
dispersed.
The next opposition rally is scheduled for 15 April.
Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0948 gmt 9 Apr 03
BBC Mon TCU 090403 gc/ea
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