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Armenia: Opposition leader arrested as protests continue for 10 days

OPPOSITION leader Nikol Pashinian was arrested today as anti-government protests continued for a 10th day in Armenia.

He was detained by masked police and security forces as he led a crowd of protesters marching to the Erebuni district of the capital Yerevan.

Yerevan police said they had “forcibly taken” him from the protest, saying that, “despite repeated calls to stop illegal rallies, Pashinian continued leading a demonstration.”

Opposition MPs Sasun Mikaelyan and Ararat Mirzoyan were also arrested as demonstrators clashed with police amid growing political unrest. A further 192 people were detained in the government’s clampdown on dissent.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said that the trio would be held for 72 hours, claiming they had organised unsanctioned rallies. It also alleged that those participating in the protests — the biggest seen in the country for decades — had attacked police officers.

Mr Pashinan was arrested soon after Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan had stormed out of a meeting with the opposition leader just minutes after it had begun.

Mr Sargsyan told the Civil Contract party leader yesterday: “This is not talks, not a dialogue. It’s just an ultimatum, blackmail of the state, of the legitimate authorities.”

Mr Pashinian said the only issue that he had come to discuss was the resignation of Mr Sargsyan, but the government head warned him that the opposition had failed to learn the lessons of a rally following his re-election in 2008, during which 10 people were killed.

Mr Pashinian remained defiant, telling the prime minister: “No-one has dared and will dare speak to us in the language of threats. I am telling you, you have no understanding of the situation in the country. The situation is different to the one you knew 15-20 days ago.

“The situation in Armenia has changed, you don’t have the power of which you are told. In Armenia, the power has passed to the people.”

After his arrest, four priests led thousands in a march in Yerevan chanting Mr Pashinan’s name. He has described the mass protests as a “velvet revolution.”

The unrest was sparked by Mr Sargsyan’s switch from president to prime minister on April 9, following constitutional changes in 2015 under which the country became a parliamentary republic.

Mr Sargysyan had previously promised to step away from power.

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