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A series of mass protests were held in Armenia in the wake of the Armenian presidential election of 19 February 2008. Mass protests against alleged electoral fraud were held in the capital city of Yerevan and organised by supporters of the unsuccessful presidential candidate and first President of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The protests began on February 20, lasted for 10 days in Yerevan's Freedom Square, and involved tens of thousands of demonstrators during the day and hundreds camping out overnight. After nine days of peaceful protests at the Freedom Square, the national police and military forces tried to disperse the protesters on 1 March.〔("Report by the Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, on his special mission to Armenia, 12–15 march 2008" ), Council of Europe, March 20, 2008.〕 As a result, 10 people were killed. Despite the urges of the government to stop the demonstrations, the protests continued until March 1. On the morning of March 1, police and army units dispersed the 700-1,000 persons who remained overnight, beating them with truncheons and electric-shock devices.〔("Protestor on scene tells of melee" ), ArmeniaNow.com, March 1, 2008 (noon)〕〔("Armenia: Police Beat Peaceful Protesters in Yerevan" ), Human Rights Watch (NY), March 2, 2008.〕〔(Ter-Petrosyan ‘Under House Arrest,’ Rally Broken Up ), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 1, 2008. 〕 As of March 4, many protesters are still missing.〔("Human Rights Watch Demands Probe Into Armenian Crackdown" ), Armenia Liberty (RFE/RL), March 4, 2008. 〕 On March 1, Ter-Petrosyan was placed under ''de facto'' house arrest.〔〔〔("Armenia: At Least 2 Dead in Yerevan Violence, as Kocharian Declares State of Emergency" ), Armenia: Vote 2008 (EurasiaNet.org), March 1, 2008.〕 At noon on 1 March, a crowd of at least 10,000 protesters held a rally in front of the French embassy.〔("Crowd near French Embassy grows to tens of thousands or more" ), ArmeniaNow.com, March 1, 2008 (4 pm).〕 Police officers pulled away from the area by 16:00, as they were overwhelmed by the growing number of demonstrators. Activists then used abandoned police buses to set up barricades. In the evening, clashes broke out between riot police and about 2,000 protesters who barricaded themselves at Miasnikyan Square. At around 22:00, President Robert Kocharyan, with the approval of the Armenian parliament, declared a 20-day state of emergency, banning future demonstrations and censoring the media from broadcasting any political news except those issued by official state press releases.〔(At Least Eight Killed In Armenian Post-Election Unrest" ), Armenia Liberty (()), March 2, 2008. 〕 Kocharian justified the decision on the grounds that a minority of demonstrators looted a nearby grocery store on Mashtots Avenue and set fire to a handful of police vehicles and buses〔 (while the riot police, special forces and army looked on from 1 km away from Shahumyan Square without intervening). Opposition leaders say that the looters had nothing to do with the demonstration, and that they were led by ''agent provocateurs''. With the state of emergency in effect, at around 4:00 on 2 March, Levon Ter-Petrosyan asked the protesters near the French Embassy to go home, thus ending the protests.〔 The tragic events of March 1, 2008 are simply referred to as ''Marti mek'' ((アルメニア語:Մարտի մեկ) "March First") in Armenia. ==Background== Levon Ter-Petrosyan was the President of Armenia from October 16, 1991 to February 3, 1998. He was forced to step down in February 1998 because of a number of reasons like allegations of election fraud and generally having lost support in the parliament. He was succeeded by his then Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan. Kocharyan was re-elected for a second term as president on March 5, 2003 amid allegations of electoral fraud. In early 2004 there were demonstrations by opposition-led protestors and calls for Kocharyan's resignation. Kocharyan completed his second term as president on February 2008 and under the Armenian constitution was not eligible for a third term. Kocharyan's Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan had Kocharyan's backing for his candidacy as the next president. Ter-Petrosyan was also a candidate for this election, having announced his candidacy during a speech in Yerevan on October 26, 2007, in which he accused Kocharyan's government of massive corruption involving the theft of "at least three to four billion dollars" over the previous five years.〔Emil Danielian and Liz Fuller, ("Armenian Ex-President Confirms Comeback Plans" ), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1 November 2007.〕 The election was held on February 19, 2008 and Sargsyan won the election with 53% of the vote, according to official results, with Ter-Petrosyan in second place with 22% of the vote. Under Armenia's electoral law, if neither candidate wins at least 50% of the votes, the top two contenders have to face each other in a second round of the elections. International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, PACE and the European Parliament had said that "the presidential election in Armenia mostly satisfied the international standards".〔(International observers: Armenian presidential election mostly in accordance with international standards ) Regnum, February 20, 2008〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2008 Armenian presidential election protests」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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