Armenian premier quits amid protests

Armenian prime minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned unexpectedly yesterday to quell massive anti-government protests over what critics feared was his effort to seize power for life.

Residents of the capital, Yerevan, poured out on the streets to celebrate his surprise departure. People hugged and kissed each other and motorists sounded their horns.

Protest leader “Nikol Pashinian was right. I was wrong,” Sargsyan, a former Armenian president, said in a surprise announcement on his website.

“The movement on the streets is against my rule. I’m complying with their demands.”

The move plunges the Caucasian mountains country into uncertainty after ten days of protests against Sargsyan’s appointment as prime minister.