Will intellectual policemen prevent repetition of March 1?
Authorities in Armenia are confident that the deadly March 2008 events will never repeat in the country.
"God forbid, we witness similar clashes anew," Arthur Osikyan, Deputy Chief of Armenia's Police, said during today's roundtable initiated by German International Cooperation (GIZ).
The attendees of the roundtable discussion debated on freedom of assemblies.
The official says many intellectual policemen work in the system today, who are being trained to ensure the conduct of peaceful rallies in the country. On the other hand, he says a lot depends on the level of tension.
"In this case, it is highly important that police officers be well prepared to prevent riots," stressed Osikyan.
Mass protests against alleged electoral fraud on March 1, 2008, resulted in the death of ten people. The protests were organized by supporters of presidential candidate and first President of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the wake of the Armenian presidential election of 19 February 2008. on March 1, 2008, after nine days of peaceful protests at the Opera Square, police and military forces dispersed the protesters who remained overnight, beating them with truncheons and electric-shock devices.
Lawyer Vardan Poghosyan welcomes the amended Law on Freedom of Assemblies, saying not all rallies can be considered a coup attempt today.
"In case of riots, any law, including this one, allows policemen to apply appropriate measures," said the lawyer.
On the other hand, Mr Poghosyan does not exclude further clashes between the police and pubic and says the most important thing for the public is to realize that they cannot change power by force.
"Frequently, people mistake freedom of assemblies with freedom to exercise their right to free elections," he said.
The lawyer notes that in many cases people hurry to restore justice by taking to the streets to protest rigged elections as they cannot find any other legal means.
"If elections are held in Armenia in a civilized manner, people will rally for other purposes, for example they will raise ecological problems," he said.
