Armenia protesters block roads
Opposition leader called ‘day of disobedience’ to force ruling elite to relinquish grip on power
Armenian protesters blocked roads in and around the capital yesterday, responding to a call from opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan for a campaign of civil disobedience to force the ruling elite to relinquish its grip on power.
Ex-Soviet Armenia is locked in a political crisis after the ruling party, severely weakened after days of protests that forced its nominee for prime minister to quit, dug in its heels and refused to back Pashinyan to replace him.
The standoff is being watched closely by Russia, which sees Armenia as a close ally and is wary of it going the same way as Ukraine, where an uprising swept to power new leaders who pulled the country out of Moscow’s orbit.
In the capital, Yerevan, all the main streets were blocked by cars, minibuses and garbage bins. The road to the international airport was blocked. A spokesman for the civil aviation authority said one flight had been cancelled.
Protesters persuaded
Reuters reporters in Yerevan said shops and offices were open, and some people were still trying to get to work, despite the roadblocks.
Police tried to persuade protesters to open roads, but did not use force. Local media reported that there were also protests in several other cities in Armenia, a country of three million people that is home to a Russian military base.
Tiny Armenia is strategically valuable for Russia, nestled in mountains between Nato-member Turkey and energy exporter Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has been in a state of conflict since both emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pashinyan, in an interview at a protest in Yerevan where he was surrounded by cheering supporters, said he would keep the pressure on the ruling party.
“My only power is my people. We are not going to give up,” said Pashinyan. “We will continue our strike and disobedience.” Armenia’s president, Armen Sarkissian, called for talks this week to try to find a way out of the crisis.