Armenia detains 180 protesters calling on Pashinyan to quit

YEREVAN, Armenia — Police in Armenia’s capital on Monday detained 180 anti-government demonstrators that have been blocking streets to protest towards Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Protests demanding that Pashinyan step down reignited in Armenia final month, after he spoke within the nation’s parliament about the necessity to signal a peace settlement with Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old battle over the separatist area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a part of Azerbaijan however has been below Armenian management since early Nineteen Nineties. In a six-week warfare within the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan was capable of reclaim management over giant swaths of land in and across the area earlier than signing a Russia-brokered truce with Armenia. Pashinyan has confronted backlash at dwelling for agreeing to the deal.

As Armenia and Azerbaijan edged nearer to reaching a correct peace settlement this yr, opposition forces in Armenia have resumed protests towards Pashinyan. Rallies within the capital, Yerevan, are being held virtually each day since April 17.

On Sunday, demonstrators within the middle of Yerevan arrange tents for a round the clock protest and mentioned they would not depart till Pashinyan and his group step down. The Interfax information company reported that barricades have been erected from rubbish cans and road benches, and that visitors on France Sq., a significant street connecting 4 principal avenues of the Armenian capital, stopped.

Demonstrators — together with opposition lawmakers — chanted “Armenia with out Nikol!” Protest chief and deputy parliamentary speaker Ishkhan Sagatelyan instructed reporters that protesters would clear the streets by Monday afternoon, in order that one other rally may collect on the sq. within the night.

Among the detentions on Monday have been carried out with the usage of pressure, and journalists masking the protests have been reported to have been pushed round by the police. Police spokespeople instructed Interfax the demonstrators have been detained on fees of refusing to obey cops.