Armenia: Eight Dead, State of Emergency Declared

Some of us knew that this was bound to happen since last October when the former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, made his political comeback in time for the 19 February 2008 presidential election in Armenia. That is, that there would be post-election clashes and blood would be shed. As it happened, in the following months the language of hate and confrontation was used almost constantly by nearly all candidates contesting the vote, and in the past week it became obvious that it was only a matter of time before our worst fears would be realized.

On Saturday 1 March, the inevitable came true. At least eight people died in clashes between police, soldiers and opposition supporters. Shops were looted, cars set on fire, molotov cocktails were thrown, and in addition to the fatalities known so far, 16 servicemen and 18 protesters were wounded in shooting between the two sides. Each side blames the other and protests their innocence while the majority of residents in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, resigned themselves to the worst case of election-related violence in the country’s short history as an independent state.

The clashes were sparked by the dispersal of the ten-day unsanctioned occupation of Yerevan’s central Liberty Square by supporters of the former president turned radical opposition leader protesting the outcome of the presidential election which international observers declared “mainly democratic,” but which others considered should have gone to a second round. Marilisa Lorusso’s blog sets the background for the dream of a pro-democracy movement that soon turned into a nightmare.

In Armenia the day of reckoning came. Anticipated by some politically- flavoured arrests of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters, the rally in Opera Square of the opposition has been dispersed with force. […] The totally peaceful rally, at the moment of the police intervention – early in the morning –, was not even threatening the traffic, let alone the State security. […].

For sure, from then on, the situation only deteriorated, with increased polarization and radicalization.

New statements, from opposition forces, previously ready to move against the government on legal bases, like the Heritage party, marked a fiery condemnation: […] Unfortunately these words, uttered the 1st, precisely foresaw new violence in the streets, that went far beyond the worse expectations.

To begin with, however, some local bloggers from the Armenian Diaspora hoped that Ter-Petrossian’s small support base backed up by others in civil society and the media might bring about new hope for the country. Even so, like many others fearful of violence on the streets, Raffi N at Life in Armenia was uncertain where everything would lead.

The events started at 6:30 a.m. this morning, by 3:00 p.m., we saw the first police press conference aleging that they only attacked after the demonstrators started throwing rocks and yelling out words to overturn the government… They showed footage of guns and sharp objects collected from the surrounding areas of the Opera claiming that they were tipped on he arrival of truckloads of arms and other metal harp objects. […] I am not sure what all this will lead to, but I know that Armenia will not have the same apathetic society it had for the past several years.

I am hopeful that the people will prevail and will build its country to have a more fair and just political and judicial system… or at least it will die trying!

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.