MADRID, May 1. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Hundreds of people have gathered in the French Square of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to begin this Sunday the march called by the opposition Resistance Movement to demand the resignation of the country’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinián.
Since April 25, large-scale opposition protests have been taking place in Armenia, in which supporters of the Armenian bloc of the former second president of the republic, Robert Kocharyan, the Republican Party of Armenia and the parliamentary bloc led by Artur Vanetsyan, known as I Have the Honour, have called for the president’s dismissal.
Pashinian has drawn the ire of his critics since the end of the latest conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh territory. The prime minister signed in November agreed to a negotiated agreement that put an end to six weeks of fierce fighting in the area in exchange for concessions to the Azeri government, interpreted as a defeat by the opposition.
The Armenian National Security Service (SSN) has warned that the protests, especially those this Sunday, could lead to “mass riots” throughout the country and has recommended a state of alert in the face of possible clashes.
“The NSS reports that at present there is a real danger of organizing and conducting mass riots in Armenia, in connection with which we urge not to succumb to possible provocations, to show high civic responsibility, to refrain from unacceptable practices of incitement to hatred, hostility, or violence,” according to a statement collected by the news portal News.am
One of the last to join the demonstration was Kocharyan, who has called for an immediate change in the situation in the country, “but it depends on whether people want it or not, no matter how convinced I am about a change.”
