Yerevan: Armenian riot police used truncheons to break up an opposition protest in the capital Yerevan on Saturday, witnesses said.

Several thousand opposition supporters had been protesting daily since a February 19 presidential election was won by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan. The opposition said the vote was rigged to deny them victory.

A spokesman for Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the opposition leader who had been leading the protests, said riot police moved in on Saturday morning when some protesters were holding an overnight vigil in the square.

He said, "They came, they beat people up and they removed everyone."

A police spokesman said he was unable to make any immediate comment.