State of Emergency

I didn’t even notice the state of emergency until evening.  I was working in the office.  (Final project report.  60+ pages and still going strong.)  But downtown is now full of soldiers with AK-47s. Levon Ter-Petrosian is under house arrest, “for his own protection”.

The government is claiming that Ter-Petrosian’s supporters were heavily armed and trying to mount a coup, which is obvious nonsense.  This is the excuse they're using for the state of emergency, though, and that gives them all kinds of powers. 

-- Confused?  I blogged about the election over at the Fistful last week.  Short version: the ruling party stole it.  And now they're shooting people for daring to say so. 

I don't really know what to say here. This is... frustrating.    And what happens next?  Hell if I know.  If I had to bet, though, I’d bet they’ll get away with it; Saakashvili did much the same thing last year, over the border in Georgia.  The Armenian military said a few days ago that it wouldn't take sides, but -- as far as I can tell -- the cops are still working for the man. 

Anyway, I’m good here for the moment: 3-4 km away from the center where the shooting was, and the lights (and, obviously, internet) are still on.  Claudia and the boys left for Germany this morning, so that's all right.

Comments

[The New York City High School Math Teacher]

Oy. Talked to Carlos about it the elephant in the room earlier today, and he hadn't heard as of 2pm EST.

Be safe, Doug.

I'd like to correspond with you on a totally different matter. Give me an email.

[Marcia]

That sounds terrifying! I'm glad your family got out and that you sound relatively (!) safe.

(Who am I? I knew Noel when I was a college freshman. Now I'm a suburban housewife on the periphery of the San Francisco Bay Area.)

[King-Walters]

Keep safe, Doug.