Armenia finds police actions during dispersal of rally on March 1, 2008, proportional

The final report of the interim parliamentary commission on studying the events on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan, published today, concludes that the actions of the police, who dispersed the actions of the opposition during those days, were, as a whole, proportional and within the Law "On Police". The commission included no members representing the opposition.

The commission found unacceptable the actions of the organizers of the rally on March 1, which had still more heated the atmosphere and passions. The report marks the negative role of the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

As to opening the circumstances of the death of the ten persons, who perished in clashes with the police, the members of the interim commission note that all the possible actions had been undertaken towards solving these crimes.

The final report of the interim commission also says that the underlying reason of the March events was the heavy social and economic situation in the country, high level of poverty, extreme polarization in the society, lack of trust to the judiciary-legal system and imperfections of the political system.

The commission also believes that dismissals of a number of high-ranking officials in the Police of the Republic of Armenia and cadre reshufflings in this agency were caused, basically, by the events on March 1.