Armenia in state of crisis

One dead, 30 hurt in clashes

A woman argued with riot police during a demonstration yesterday in Yerevan, Armenia, where opposition activists vowed to stage more rallies in protest of last month's presidential elections. (Hayk Badalyan/Reuters/Photolure)

YEREVAN, Armenia - President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in the capital yesterday as he sought to end violent protests over a presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.

At least one protester died and more than 30 people were injured after riot police fired tracer bullets into the air to break up a demonstration near the Yerevan mayor's office and several foreign embassies. The man who was killed was apparently hit by a ricocheting bullet, witnesses said.

A statement from the presidential press service said Kocharyan had signed a decree declaring the state of emergency until March 20 "to prevent a threat to constitutional order."

Police fired in the air and used tear gas in a bid to disperse yesterday's rally in Yerevan, scene of street protests over a Feb. 19 presidential election that elected an ally of Kocharyan as president.

The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in a square near the mayor's office after a 10-day sit-in was broken up earlier by police wielding batons.

A protester in the crowd, reached by cellphone, said: "They shot in the air to scare us. They have fired tear gas. But people are standing firm. There are thousands of people standing here with us."

Hundreds of police officers in full riot gear cordoned off the area, which is near the Italian, French, and Russian embassies. Some protesters near the mayor's office held crowbars and metal rods. Others siphoned fuel from the buses into bottles.

The opposition, led by former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, contends that the election of Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan as president was fraudulent.

Disputed presidential elections sparked mass unrest in two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, that ultimately toppled two long-serving leaders.

The unrest risks destabilizing Armenia, a former Soviet republic of 3.22 million people in the Caucasus Mountains that is now emerging as a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea to world markets.

Several thousand opposition supporters have been protesting daily in the capital's Freedom Square since Sarksyan was elected.

"Permission or no permission [from the authorities], we will all the same press ahead with protests, because rallies and marches can only be banned when there is a state of emergency," Ter-Petrosyan told reporters.

Police said they had used force after protesters started throwing stones and metal rods at them. "Calls for a violent coup were heard," the police statement said.

Armenia's Health Ministry said 31 people, including six police officers, had been admitted to hospital after the clashes.