Over 220 arrested in Armenia amid ongoing anti-government protests

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 220 people have been arrested in Armenia amid anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to media reports on Monday.

Armenia’s Interior Ministry said that the country’s police detained 226 protesters while all streets in the capital Yerevan are currently open, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

“All the detainees did not comply with the legal demands of the police,” the news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

Protests by opposition movements, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, continued early this morning in different regions of Armenia.

The protests that began last month came after Yerevan agreed to return to Baku four villages occupied by Armenia in Azerbaijan’s northwestern Gazakh district during the First Karabakh War of 1988-1994.

The agreement comes as part of efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia to demarcate their border after Baku established full sovereignty over its territory following a 44-day war in the fall of 2020 and an anti-terrorism operation in September last year.

Since the agreement on the four villages, a nationwide movement has ensued in the country demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.

On Sunday, the opposition movement nominated Galstanyan for the post of prime minister during a speech at a rally in Yerevan.