Sunday, March 2, 2008

March 1 Election Protests

Following a disputed presidential election result, supporters of the opposition candidate held protests in Opera Square for ten days before they were broken up by police on the morning of March 1. That night, thousands of protesters assembled in front of the French Embassy. After dark, the president declared martial law and troops broke up the protests. Following a night of looting and clashes, a minimum of eight people have died and many more were injured. The opposition candidate is under house arrest and the country is in a 20-day state of emergency.
These photos were taken by a colleague of Brian's. Below, an APC and soldiers assembling in central Yerevan the night of the protests.
At left, a photo taken the morning after the protests.

Ararat Sargsyan's Art Studio

These photos are from an art tour in Yerevan. We spent the afternoon in Ararat Sargsyan's lovely studio and gallery space, in his apartment. Ararat works in many different mediums, including pressings on homemade paper, which he is demonstrating for us here. He's also a really friendly and hospitable guy, and sat the whole group of us down for food and drinks after showing us his art.