OSCE condemns violent dispersal of rally in Armenia

The Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Ilkka Kanerva has condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

"I call on the authorities to exhibit maximal patience," runs the statement disseminated today the press service of the OSCE.

Mr Kanerva has also called the Armenia authorities to start a dialogue with the opposition, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that under preliminary data there are many injured and arrested persons as a result of the force operation of the police accomplished today in the morning in the Freedom Square. According to human rights activist Mikael Danielyan, the number of injured persons reaches several hundreds.

"As a result of dispersal of the opposition in the Freedom Square in Yerevan, 31 persons, six of them being policemen, were injured," the "News-Armenia" Agency was informed at the Ministry of Public Health of Armenia.

According to the Agency, they were brought to hospital with medium gravity traumas. At present, their life is out of danger, no mortal cases were registered.

Besides, one of the leaders of the opposition, the first President in under home arrest, all the entrances and exits to his residence are guarded by employees of the Public Security Service (PSS). In the morning in the Freedom Square, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who refused to leave the square, was initially isolated from his bodyguards, and then the PSS employees, led by their chief Grigory Sarkisov, roped the hands of the first president and put him into a police car, which brought Ter-Petrosyan to his residence.

A statement condemning the use of force against peaceful demonstrators was also made by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.