Armenian riot police break up election protest

Several thousand opposition supporters had been protestingdaily since a February 19 presidential election was won byPrime Minister Serzh Sarksyan. The opposition said the vote wasrigged to deny them victory.

A Reuters correspondent in Freedom Square, scene of theprotests, said it was now surrounded by several hundred riotpolice who were blocking access.

A spokesman for Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the opposition leaderwho had been leading the protests, said riot police moved in at7.30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. British time) on Saturday when someprotesters were holding an overnight vigil in the square.

"They came, they beat people up and they removed everyone,"said Arman Musinyan.

A police spokesman said he was unable to make any immediatecomment.

A man near the square, who did not want to give his name,said he had been with the protesters when the police arrived.The man's finger was broken.

"We were asleep. They came and they started to beat us up.They had truncheons," he said.

Authorities said earlier their patience was running outwith the protests. Sarksyan and his close ally, the outgoingPresident Robert Kocharian, said the opposition was abusing itsright to protest and hampering normal life in the city.

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

(Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; writing by Christian Lowe,editing by Ralph Gowling)