Armenia: Situation Getting Worse
I keep receiving e-mails from Armenia sent by people who have not initially supported the protests. But it seems that by now people are more concerned with how the protesters are handled and brutalized by the authorities. The subject of one e-mail, sent by a freelance journalist, reads “sos” and asks for action. The body e-mail is short and direct:
mi ban ara, saytumd gri
menk kaki mej enk [do something; write in your blog. we are in shit]
Another journalist in Armenia, Onnik Krikorian, has left a comment on one of my posts advising caution on reporting rumors on killed protesters.
…please, let’s confirm the number of fatalities first before we quote them and they get taken as fact. From what I understand, nobody died this morning. Tonight, however, is going to be very bloody indeed.
Onnik Krikorian on 02 Mar 2008 at 12:15 am #
Just to clarify, I don’t dispute that people might die. In fact I’ve long been expecting it. However, we must be very careful with casualty figures. Earlier on today rumors were going around that one woman had been killed (the one hit by the jeep, I don’t know) but Nikol Pashinian said that this wasn’t the case.
Now, tonight, Armenia Now reports two dead so far (one policeman and one protester). No other confirmation of this, but the evening is different. Both sides are ready to fight and tension is high. Like I said earlier in your comments section, I fear the worst and there will be a body count in the morning. I suspect it will be higher than two as well.
Again, I will be very happy to be wrong and showing concern over nothing. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be.
Many of us have feared this night for a long time and personally speaking, I believe Levon should instruct his supporters to go home, and Kocharian should give assurances that they will not be arrested if they do and instruct the police (and army as a state of emergency has been declared) to stand down.