Soviet troops try to keep order

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 10

Soviet troops try to keep order

NZPA-Reuter Moscow Soviet troops and police sought to maintain public ' order yesterday in the republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which dispute the status of a mountainous region. Residents of the Armenian capital Yerevan said troops, backed by armoured personnel carriers, had sealed off key areas of the city in an attempt to prevent demonstrations. Soviet television on Thursday evening showed armoured vehicles blocking roads into Lenin square in Yerevan. Residents said thousands of people gathered in traffic-free streets to protest over a new wave of violence in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, focus of ethnic clashes. Relations between the two nationalities have deteriorated sharply since unrest flared in February over demands by Na-gorno-Karabakh to be transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The enclave has been administered by Soviet Azerbaijan since 1923, despite its 75 per cent

Armenian population. Troops hemmed in some 100,000 people who gathered in Yerevan’s Opera Square on Thursday morning in defiance of a ban on public gatherings, residents said. Troops allowed people to leave but no more were allowed into the square. According to one Armenian activist, the troops withdrew from the square in the evening, allowing the numbers to swell. He said a large portion of the crowd was set to maintain an all-night vigil to prevent troops occupying the square. The official news agency Tass accused “irresponsible elements” of attempting to instigate trouble through work stoppages and hunger strikes. It said strikes had hit factories in Yerevan and other Armenian towns. “Additional measures are being taken to maintain public order and to put a stop to criminal actions. Troop units, along with police, took part in these measures in Yerevan on September 22,” Tass said.