Hundreds of opposition protesters arrested in Armenia
Tens of thousands protest in Armenia’s capital against what they say is a power-grab by ex-president Serzh Sarkisian, as police arrest 230 people
YEREVAN: Tens of thousands protested in Armenia’s capital on Friday against what they say is a power-grab by ex-president Serzh Sarkisian, as police arrested 230 people.
For the past week, opposition supporters have held mass rallies to denounce Sarkisian’s efforts to remain in power as prime minister after a decade serving as president.
On Friday, demonstrators waved national lags and held up placards reading “Sarkisian is a dictator” as protests in the impoverished former Soviet country went into their eighth day.
An AFP reporter at the scene said there were tens of thousands of people at the rally in the capital.
“We are supported by 80 per cent of the people and the time has come for Serzh Sarkisian to realise that he has to leave,” opposition lawmaker and protest leader Nikol Pashinyan told reporters at the start of the rally Friday evening.
“Corruption and injustice are choking the country — if you want to open a small business you have to bribe oficials, the people from the tax service want bribes, teachers expect presents,” 52-year-old protester Mushegh Khachatryan told AFP.
“It can’t go on like this...but who created such a situation, who’s to answer for it? Serzh Sarkisian of course,” he added.
“The old generation should give up their place to the youth — a free, fair Armenia, where there’s decent education and plenty of jobs,” said Anna Minasyan, a 21-year-old student.
Protesters earlier tried to block roads in response to repeated calls by Pashinyan to paralyse trafic, but police prevented those attempts.
A police spokesman told AFP more than 233 people were detained in Yerevan.
Protesters also rallied in the second city of Gyumri where they attempted to block a main road leading to the capital.
Constitutional amendments approved in 2015 have transferred power from the presidency to the premier.
Sarkisian in effect remained the country’s leader by taking the post of prime minister after a parliament vote this week. Opposition supporters have criticised the 63-year-old leader over poverty, corruption and the inluence of powerful oligarchs.
The spokesman for Sarkisian’s ruling Republican Party on Thursday said the newly elected prime minister would not step down.
Under a new parliamentary system of government, lawmakers elected Sarkisian as prime minister on Tuesday after he served a decade as president from 2008.
Protest leader Pashinyan this week called for “a peaceful velvet revolution.” “The mechanism we are using is peaceful disobedience,” he told AFP in an interview.
Analysts say that the opposition so far lacks resources to oust the leader even though huge public anger has built up in recent years.
The number of demonstrators had somewhat dwindled over the past few days, down from roughly 40,000 who took to the streets Tuesday when Sarkisian was elected by parliament.
On Thursday, more than 15,000 protesters staged a rally outside government headquarters as Sarkisian chaired his irst cabinet meeting since the controversial vote.
On Monday police used stun grenades against protesters who tried to break through a barbed wire cordon to get to the parliament building.
Authorities said at the time that 46 people, including six police and Pashinyan sought medical help.
The new president, Armen Sarkisian — no relation to now prime minister Serzh — was sworn in last week but his post is largely ceremonial under the new system of government.
A former military oficer, Serzh Sarkisian has been in charge of the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9 million people for a decade.
He also held the ofice of prime minister from 2007 to 2008.
After he was irst elected in 2008, 10 people died and hundreds were injured in bloody clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate.