YEREVAN: Thousands rallied on Wednesday in Armenia’s capital, demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation over his handling of the decades-long standoff with Azerbaijan.
Despite a weeks-long wave of protests led in the spring by the charismatic Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, Pashinyan’s position held firm.
Chanting “Nikol (Pashinyan) traitor!” several thousand anti-government protesters rallied Wednesday in Yerevan’s central Republic Square, outside government headquarters, watched by a heavy police presence, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
The rally was held days after Galstanyan vowed to renew street protests, which he promised would “guarantee” Pashinyan’s departure.
Protest leader Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan addresses demonstrators in Yerevan's Republic Square on Oct. 2, 2024 to demand Prime Minister Pashinyan's resignation. (AFP)
The cleric has accused Pashinyan of making unnecessary territorial concessions to Baku.
“Our struggle will continue as long as evil remains in power in Armenia,” he told the crowd.
“I call on all political forces to join us, as new disasters, new losses lie ahead.”
Protesters then marched toward the offices of Armenia’s public broadcaster, to demand live air time.
Armenia’s interior ministry said in a statement it would use force against protesters should they attempt to break into the broadcaster’s offices.
“It’s not easy getting rid of Pashinyan’s government, but we can’t give up hope,” said one demonstrator, 64-year-old Sveta Sargsyan. “We need a government that will defend every centimeter of Armenian soil.”
Another protester, Karen Hovhannisyan, 55, said: “We can’t put up with Pashinyan’s rule any longer, he is flat-out pushing anti-Armenian policies.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars — in 2020 and the 1990s — over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Baku recaptured last year from Armenian separatists who had controlled it for three decades.
Nearly all its ethnic Armenians — more than 100,000 people — fled Karabakh in the aftermath and in May Pashinyan returned to Azerbaijan control over four border villages that it had seized decades earlier.
Galstanyan has previously sought to launch an impeachment process against Pashinyan, and even temporarily stepped down from his religious post to run for prime minister.
But he is not eligible to hold the office under Armenian law because he has dual citizenship — Armenian and Canadian — and opposition parties do not have enough seats in parliament to launch impeachment procedures.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have said a comprehensive peace deal to end their long-standing animosity is within reach, but the talks have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough.
