Sargsyan: I am responsible for March 1 events

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia's Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sargsyan said he is responsible for the March 1 and 2 events. "We are also responsible, since we couldn't prevent such developments. Today we must think how to smooth the consequences over but not measure the fault of everyone. All facts and circumstances will be investigated. Those guilty will be punished," Serzh Sargsyan said on air of the Armenian Public Television, when responding to the questions addressed to him via Internet.



"The authorities have taken all possible measures to avoid clashes with the opposition. The latter, however, was preparing for collisions from the very beginning, otherwise there would not be so many batons found in Liberty Square and there would not be severe resistance to a police search in the morning," he said, adding, "The rally initiators got panicky while the other opposition accepted the proposal on cooperation."



He refuted the hearsay that the law enforcers offered the protesters to hold the action in Dinamo stadium or in the square in front of the railroad station. "The documentary sequences show that the oppositionists were offered to hold the rally at Matenadaran, but they refused because Ter-Petrosyan had conveyed an order to stay near the French Embassy. People started placing barricades, turn over buses and trolleybuses," the PM said.



Commenting on the exaggerated number of victims, Mr Sargsyan said, "It's impossible to conceal the real number of the killed. "Eight people died. It's too much. One death is too much," he said, adding, "Over 200 policemen and 50 civilians were injured. Police did not use weapons against the rioters."