Opposition supporters in Armenia protested in front of the Parliament building demanding the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign over his handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.
Opposition politicians and their supporters have been demanding that Nikol Pashinyan step down over the Nov. 10 peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. The Russia-brokered agreement ended 44 days of fierce fighting in which the Azerbaijani army routed Armenian forces.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators swarmed government buildings in Yerevan, chanting “Nikol, go away!” Several hours into the rally, opposition supporters erected tents on Yerevan’s main square.
In several other parts of Armenia, local officials have joined the call for Pashinyan to resign and protesters were reported to have blocked several major roads.
As protests spread, hundreds of lawyers joined the demonstrations in Yerevan to push for Pashinyan’s resignation.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That war left Nagorno-Karabakh itself and substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front.
The Russian-brokered peace agreement obliged Armenian forces to surrender large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and hand over the territories around the separatist region they had controlled for more than a quarter-century.
The peace deal was hailed in Azerbaijan as a major triumph, but sparked outrage and mass protests in Armenia where thousands repeatedly took to the streets. Pashinyan has defended the deal as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
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