Armenian riot police break up election protest

YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenian riot police used truncheons onSaturday to break up a 10-day protest in the capital Yerevan byopposition supporters who say last month's presidentialelection was rigged, witnesses said.

Several thousand opposition supporters had been protestingdaily in Yerevan's Freedom Square since Prime Minister SerzhSarksyan was elected to replace his ally Robert Kocharyan aspresident in a February 19 vote.

The riot police moved into the square early on Saturdayafter authorities had said they were losing patience with theprotests, led by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia's first presidentafter independence from the Soviet Union.

"We were asleep," said one of the protesters who had beenkeeping an overnight vigil in the square.

"They came and they started to beat us up. They hadtruncheons," said the man, who showed Reuters a broken finger.He declined to give his name.

The protests had risked destabilising Armenia, a formerSoviet republic that lies in a Caucasus mountains region nowemerging as an important transit route for oil and gas suppliesfrom the Caspian Sea to world markets.

Armenia is still officially at war with neighbouringAzerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Oil and gaspipelines operated by a BP-led consortium run through Azeriterritory a few kilometres (miles) from the conflict zone.

"STOLEN VOTE"

Ter-Petrosyan, who ran in the election, launched theprotests after alleging Sarksyan had used ballot-stuffing andintimidation to steal victory. Sarksyan denied the charges, andWestern observers have called the vote broadly fair.

At their peak the protests attracted tens of thousands ofpeople, though numbers had fallen off in the past few days.

A spokesman for Ter-Petrosyan said riot police moved in at7.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Saturday. "They came, they beat peopleup and they removed everyone," said Arman Musinyan.

Ter-Petrosyan was not detained and had returned home, hesaid, adding the opposition planned to attempt a furtherprotest later on Saturday.

But a Reuters correspondent at Freedom Square said it wasnow surrounded by several hundred police with riot shields andthat they were not allowing anyone access.

A group of about 15 people began shouting "Levon! Levon!"near the square. Police quickly moved in to disperse them, thecorrespondent said.

Observers from the Organisation for Security andCooperation in Europe said the February 19 election broadly metArmenia's commitments on democracy, though there were someflaws.

(Writing by Christian Lowe, editing by Ralph Gowling)