More than 200 people were arrested Tuesday, May 3 in several cities of Armenia during demonstrations organized at the initiative of the opposition.
This demands the resignation of the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinian, accused of weakness vis-à-vis Azerbaijan concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In a statement, the Armenian Interior Ministry said 206 protesters were arrested in the capital Yerevan and several provincial towns where protesters tried to block traffic on the streets.
These anti-government demonstrations, the largest since the September elections, have continued since Sunday and have brought together thousands of people.
"Pashinian is a traitor and the constant and increasing street protests will force him to resign," said Deputy Speaker of Parliament and opposition leader Ichkhan Sagatelian.
"Symbol of the defeat of Armenia"
"Nikol must leave, he will leave, because he is a symbol of defeat and Armenia has no future with such a leader," exclaimed one of the protesters, Sergei Hovhannissian, a 57-year-old blacksmith. .
"He is ready to abandon Karabakh for which we shed our blood," he was indignant to AFP.
At the origin of this protest movement, a declaration made by the Prime Minister in April before the parliament, in which Nikol Pashinyan indicated that "the international community called on Armenia to reduce its demands on Nagorno-Karabakh " .
This region of the Caucasus, which the two countries have been fighting over for thirty years, was the stake in 2020 of a six-week war which left more than 6,500 dead before a ceasefire negotiated by Russia.
With AFP
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