VZCZCXRO1288
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0677 2420313
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290313Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7943
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0654

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000677 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL AND EUR/CARC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL AM
SUBJECT: GOAM-OPPOSITION CLASHES IN CENTRAL YEREVAN ESCALATE 
 
REF:  YEREVAN 668 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The confrontations between police and opposition 
protesters on Yerevan's Northern Avenue that began the morning of 
August 26 (reftel) escalated in the afternoon and throughout the 
following day.  Police forcibly removed and detained some protesters 
who had been camped there for weeks collecting signatures on 
petitions calling for new elections and for the International 
Criminal Court indictment of former President Kocharian.  This 
action in turn spawned an increased activist presence on the 
pedestrian mall that at one point even included former First Lady 
Ludmila Ter-Petrossian.  These confrontations have breathed new life 
into the opposition protests that had waned during the dog days of 
summer, and have come at a time when the GOAM wants to put on its 
best face in the run-up to an expected September 6 visit by Turkey's 
President Gul.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) According to media reports, riot police detained six 
opposition members on the afternoon of August 26, after discovering 
that pro-Ter-Petrossian posters they had torn down and removed 
earlier in the day had reemerged as graffiti painted on the 
sidewalk.  The detentions occurred after police had forcibly removed 
the tables protesters were using to garner signatures for their 
petition campaigns.  Despite strikers' claims that they had not 
painted the graffiti, the police demanded it be cleaned before they 
would release the detainees.  According to ARAVOT newspaper, one of 
the six was a minor whom police released immediately, while the 
others were taken to Police headquarters and released later in the 
evening. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Opposition spokesperson Levon Zurabian told emboffs that 
the increased instances of police violence towards the strikers 
"shows that the authorities are intimidated by them and shows their 
weakness" in advance of the planned but unauthorized September 5 
rally.  Zurabian said that the Police had no legal grounds for 
confiscating the posters or for the detentions. 
 
¶4.  (U) A1 Plus reports that along with the threat to disperse 
protesters and their belongings by force, Police had issued the 
strikers a deadline of 9:00 am, August 27, to remove their blankets 
and mats from Northern Avenue.  After an all-night vigil attended by 
many protesters, including former First Lady Ludmila Ter-Petrossian, 
the opposition activists grudgingly complied, noting publicly that 
they saw police action as a violation of their constitutional rights 
and claiming that the police wanted to create conditions under which 
they would be unable to continue their strike. 
 
¶5. (U) In a previous Northern Avenue incident, a 17-year-old 
opposition supporter reportedly was stabbed and wounded in the arm 
by a government loyalist late Monday.  David Kiramijian described 
his attacker as an elderly man who shouted abuse at the protesters. 
"I just told him that there are women and children here and he 
should stop swearing," Kiramijian told RFE/RL.  "He then came up to 
me, swearing, and stabbed me." Kiramijian was immediately taken to 
the hospital where he received stitches for his wound.  The Armenian 
police said in a statement the next day that his presumed attacker, 
identified as Volodya Manukian, had been detained for questioning 
and then had been set free pending further investigation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: If anything, police actions over recent days have 
begun to breathe new life into the Northern Avenue protest campaign, 
which had been flagging under the hot summer sun and amidst the fuel 
and supply worries associated with the war in Georgia.  We see this 
as the GOAM's attempt to clean up pesky protesters and put on its 
best face in advance of the September 6 Turkey-Armenia World 
Cup-qualifying football match, to which President Sargsian has 
invited his Turkish counterpart. 
 
PENNINGTON