At least 171 individuals calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were detained on Monday as they resumed blocking the streets in Yerevan, spurred by calls from Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the central leading figure in the anti-government protests.
The Interior Ministry of Armenia reported that 156 detainees had been released by late afternoon.
During a Sunday rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square, Galstanyan encouraged his supporters to “paralyze” the capital and other regions. The next morning, hundreds of protesters briefly halted traffic in the city’s heart.
Riot police intervened to clear the streets, arresting individuals in the process. They faced accusations of employing excessive force, including detaining demonstrators who were merely walking on sidewalks.
“We were just walking on the sidewalk, and they took away all of our boys, using brute force,” said a young woman to journalists.
There were also disruptions on major highways outside Yerevan, where motorcades of opposition supporters deliberately slowed traffic.
Galstanyan spent Monday morning and afternoon rallying support for his movement by meeting with members of the national unions of writers and painters, as well as scholars and scientists. This was in response to Pashinyan’s contentious decision to unilaterally cede several border areas to Azerbaijan.
Accompanied by over a hundred supporters, the cleric walked to these meetings. Vehicles passing by occasionally honked in support.
These meetings, along with the roadblocks, aimed to intensify pressure on Armenian legislators. Galstanyan is pushing for them to remove Pashinyan through a vote of no confidence.
The two opposition coalitions in the parliament have vowed to initiate such a vote, although they currently fall short by one vote of being able to demand a formal debate on the matter.
Galstanyan expressed optimism on Sunday that the needed vote could come from Ishkhan Zakaryan, a nominally independent deputy who departed from the opposition Pativ Unem bloc in 2022. “He didn’t refuse to join this process,” Galstanyan noted.
Zakaryan, known for his sporadic attendance at National Assembly sessions, was unavailable for comment and was not seen in the parliament building on Monday.
Members of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party remain confident that Zakaryan will not support the opposition’s bid to overthrow the government. Even if he does, the opposition would still need to sway at least 18 of the 71 Civil Contract legislators. Leaders of the Pativ Unem and the larger Hayastan alliance have not disclosed their strategy to garner the necessary support for their proposed censure motion.
