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Yerevan: Armenian police have arrested 30 opposition activists for starting a riot in which eight people were killed, the prosecutor-general said yesterday, in a clampdown on opponents during a state of emergency.
The opposition has accused the government of rigging last month's presidential election and vowed to press ahead with protests once the emergency laws are lifted. The government has refused to negotiate with them.
But the ex-Soviet state's top military commander said he needed the emergency laws to ensure stability.
"Thirty people have been detained for provoking mass disturbances, not obeying the police and violent actions against policemen," the prosecutor-general's office said.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan officially won 53 per cent of the ballot on February 19 while his main rival, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, won 21.5 per cent.
Robert Kocharyan, the current president and Sarksyan's ally, has ordered the army onto the streets and imposed emergency laws during riots on Saturday - the worst civil violence since Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Police had arrested a handful of prominent opposition figures - for allegedly plotting a coup or hoarding firearms - during daily mass demonstrations in the capital Yerevan.
Armed soldiers patrol Yerevan's streets and armoured personnel carriers stand in the main square imposing the military's control and ready to counter any demonstrators.
The opposition has vowed to keep up rallies. But the government has said it is not yet prepared to negotiate with opponents it blames for Saturday's violence.
"I don't see any possibility of dialogue at this stage," Kocharyan's spokesman, Viktor Soghomonyan, told the press. "The wounds are still very fresh."
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