Ex-president Serzh Sargsyan has been sworn in as prime minister by Armenia’s parliament, the National Assembly, by 77 votes to 17. Mass-protests in Yerevan went into a fifth day on Tuesday, with thousands coming out to protest Sargsyan’s appointment, reportedly surrounding government buildings and clashing with police. Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan called for a campaign of ‘total disobedience’, declaring the movement a ‘velvet revolution’.
Clashes with police continued on Tuesday, with at least 29 people detained, according to RFE/RL. Estimates of the number of protesters reached the 10s of thousands.
Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinian has called on supporters to wage a campaign of “total disobedience.” The police has detained at least 29 activists during ongoing protests over former President Serzh Sarkisian’s move to retain power as prime minister. #ArmenianProtestspic.twitter.com/T4FqC6dZ9K
Protesters surrounded several government buildings Tuesday afternoon, with police attempting to forcibly remove them, according to EVN Report.
Gala TV reported a small protest in Armenia’s second city, Gyumri, in the north-west.
A spokesperson for the Civil Contract party told OC Media after the appointment that protesters were occupying the Prosecutor’s Office and Court of Cassation, and were heading to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She said Pashinyan was calling on ‘all citizens to turn to peaceful disobedience and to block public institutions’, and to gather at Republic Square at 18:30 on Tuesday.
Following Armenia’s recent shift to a parliamentary system of governance, the post of prime minister became the most powerful one in the country.
Serzh Sargsyan’s appointment on Tuesday has been accompanied by a wave of mass protests that erupted on Friday. Over the following days, several thousand protesters led by Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the Civil Contract party, part of the opposition Yelk coalition, blocked the main streets of Yerevan. On Friday, groups of protesters forced their way into the Yerevan State University and the building of Armenia’s Public Radio on Saturday.
On Monday, several thousand protesters clashed with riot police as they attempted to break the police cordon to move closer to the parliament building. According to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Radio Azatutyun, police used batons and stun grenades against protesters.
Armenia’s Ministry of Health reported that 46 people received medical treatment on Monday, including six police officers, with one person in serious condition. As of Tuesday morning, the majority had been discharged with twelve people still receiving treatment, including one police officer.
Armenia’s police reiterated that ‘law enforcement bodies can terminate the meeting if they consider that it is otherwise impossible to prevent a disproportionate restriction of the constitutional rights of other persons or public interests’, and called on protesters to ‘stop blocking streets and ensure the normal course of the rally’.
On Monday afternoon, police called on protest leader Nikol Pashinyan to stop the protests or police would ‘disperse the assembly by using force and special means’.
On the same day, Human Rights Watch called on the authorities to ‘refrain from interfering into peaceful assembly’.
According to EVN Report, several men in civilian clothing beat up members of the rally on Monday morning. Several Armenian NGOs, including the Open Society Foundation — Armenia and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly — Vanadzor Office issued a statement on Tuesday saying ‘the authorities bear responsibility for the possible violence used by the aforementioned [tall men in plain clothes] criminal groups against peaceful protesters’.
‘Directed anger’
Regional analyst Karena Avedissian told OC Media that in these protests, unlike in previous ones, anger has been more directed towards Serzh Sargsyan.
‘While these protests are much better organised than previous ones, with a concrete plan and aim, a strategic distribution of protesters in key parts of town, and even a theme song, the reason for them is similar to previous mobilisations. They are an expression of people’s frustration with the regime. This time, however, their anger is more specifically directed against Serzh Sargsyan for playing the system to remain in power as Prime Minister even as he had said he would not’, Avedissian told OC Media.
Having previously played down suggestions he would run again for political office, Sargsyan announced on 11 April that he would seek the position of Prime Minister.
Armenia has extended the protection status for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, without which they would not be able to leave the country.
On Thursday, the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the status of protection granted to Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians was extended until 31 December 2025, with the possibility of further extension.
This status was given to over 100,000 Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who did not apply for Armenian citizenship following the mass displacement in 2023.
Armenia’s opposition has held a hearing in defence of the inclusion of the Declaration of Independence in Armenia’s constitution, with opposition figures insulting supporters and members of the ruling party.
The opposition Armenia Alliance faction held the hearing on Thursday to discuss the draft statement regarding the inviolable relevance of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.
The hearing took place against the backdrop of continued statements from Azerbaijan that the inclusion of the d
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o
Human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisyan has slammed the Deputy Chair of the Armenian Parliament’s Defence Committee, Armen Khachatryan, for attempting to downplay the responsibility of the authorities in the non-combat deaths of soldiers.
‘In our civilian life, we have many suicides, we have many accidents. I don’t know why you don’t talk about it, the reasons for those suicides’, Khachatryan said on Tuesday, in response to a question regarding the recent death of a soldier outside of comba
Ex-president Serzh Sargsyan has been sworn in as prime minister by Armenia’s parliament, the National Assembly, by 77 votes to 17. Mass-protests in Yerevan went into a fifth day on Tuesday, with thousands coming out to protest Sargsyan’s appointment, reportedly surrounding government buildings and clashing with police. Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan called for a campaign of ‘total disobedience’, 
