State of emergency imposed in Armenian capital after clashes

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

YEREVAN (AFP) — Authorities in ex-Soviet Armenia imposed a state of emergency Saturday after rising tension over a disputed presidential election erupted into violent clashes between protesters and riot police.

The state of emergency will be in effect in the capital Yerevan until March 20 under a decree signed by President Robert Kocharian, his office said.

"In order to end the threat to order and to defend the law and rights of the people, I declare a state of emergency in Yerevan from March 1 to March 20," the decree stated, a presidential spokesman told AFP.

Protesters and riot police clashed Saturday in Yerevan with demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and stones and police firing tear gas and automatic weapons into the air, an AFP reporter saw....