Armenia opposition launches campaign of civil disobedience

PanARMENIAN.Net - Protests of disobedience started in Yerevan on Monday, May 2 to oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from power, as activists blocked central streets, as well as highways and bridges leading to the center.

Parliament vice-speaker, member of the opposition Armenia bloc Ishkhan Saghatelyan said 14 streets have already been blocked. In some places, however, the police have already removed the protesters and their cars from the driveway.

Since early morning, 189 people have been detained, Pastinfo cited the police as saying.

Thousands of opposition supporters rallied on May 1 in the Armenian capital to warn the government against concessions to Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Sagհatelyan took to the stage and announced the start of a large-scale campaign of civil disobedience. The opposition set up tents at the Square of France in downtown Yerevan and spent the night on the street, and on Monday morning the campaign began.

Pashinyan himself staged a massive disobedience campaign back in the spring of 2018 and removed then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan who had been in power for 10 years. The PM, however, came under fire after signing a statement with the Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh almost 45 days after the start of the military hostilities. Under the deal, the Armenian side was forced to cede all the regions surrounding Karabakh to Azerbaijan, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.