NYT: They Did It For Themselves

Although local media outlets are restricted in what they can publish or broadcast during the current state of emergency, the foreign press can which is probably just as well given the usually partisan nature of journalism here. One of those reporting from the scene of Saturday’s unrest was a journalist and photographer from The New York Times.

YEREVAN, Armenia — Tanks blocked central streets in the capital of this tiny mountain country on Sunday, a day after Armenian authorities clashed with demonstrators in a violent confrontation that left at least eight people dead and more than 130 wounded.

[…]

Mr. Ter-Petrossian blamed the Armenian government for what he described as a “slaughter.” Seven civilians were killed and only one security officer, according to the Foreign Ministry. Of the 131 injuries, 72 were police officers and 59 were civilians, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Health Ministry.

[…]

In Washington, the State Department said in a statement both sides should “avoid further violence, act fully within the law, exercise maximum restraint and resume political dialogue.”

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It was clear by early afternoon Saturday that after 10 days of peaceful protests, the demonstrators, who had been beaten by police officers in the morning, were spoiling for a fight. Men were yanking bricks out of sidewalks, barricading streets with city buses, and assembling gasoline bombs. By evening, a four-or-five-block area had become an encampment run by agitated young men wielding metal poles and bricks.

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“I’m fighting for honesty,” said a man in his 50s, holding a stolen beer in one hand and a lemon in the other. “Levon Ter-Petrossian is for the people.”

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Armenian authorities have used violence against political opposition several times over the past 13 years. In 1995, for example, during Mr. Ter-Petrossian’s tenure as president, at least one opposition figure died in police custody after his political party was shut down, according to Human Rights Watch.

On Sunday afternoon, city workers swept shards of glass and towed burned shells of cars off central streets, still sticky from looted food and gasoline fires, as passers-by came to gape at the damage.

“It’s shameful,” said a 27-year-old economist surveying the wreckage. “They did it for themselves. Not for the people.”

Incidentally, photographs by Johan Spanner accompanying the article are here.