(Yerevan) Dozens of people were injured in Armenia on Wednesday during a demonstration in front of Parliament to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, after police used stun grenades.
This Caucasian country has been shaken for weeks by a protest movement in reaction to the transfer of several border villages to Azerbaijan. The two countries have fought two wars over territorial disputes in the past thirty years.
On Wednesday, thousands of people gathered to demand the departure of Mr. Pashinian, who was speaking to deputies. This gathering gave rise to chaotic scenes, with demonstrators attempting to break through the police cordon and police using stun grenades.
The injured demonstrators were transported to hospitals in ambulances, some with injuries to their legs or abdomen, an AFP photographer noted.
According to the country’s medical authorities, at least 79 people have requested medical assistance.
PHOTO HAYK BAGHDASARYAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A police stun grenade explodes during a rally against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan, Armenia, Wednesday June 12, 2024.
The Interior Ministry reported the arrest of 98 people for “disobeying legitimate police requests.” According to him, six police officers were injured.
The authorities announced the opening of an investigation for “organizing riots”. In the early evening, demonstrators organized a march towards the government headquarters.
The protest against Mr. Pashinian is led by the charismatic Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, who addressed the crowd on Wednesday by denouncing the transfers of territories to Azerbaijan, which he considers “illegal”. He denounced “unilateral and humiliating concessions” from Armenia.
Addressing deputies, Nikol Pashinian assured that Yerevan was ready to sign a peace agreement with Baku “within a month”.
Mr. Pashinian defends the recent cession of four border villages to Azerbaijan as a necessary concession to avoid a new conflict with Baku. These villages are located in an area with a strategic highway to neighboring Georgia.
Cold with Moscow
The leader of the protest, Bagrat Galstanian, temporarily abandoned his religious work to try to run for prime minister, although he is ineligible due to his dual Armenian and Canadian nationality.
Nikol Pashinian, himself brought to power after demonstrations in 2018, has been challenged in the streets several times in recent years, without wavering.
PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinian
Armenia and Azerbaijan have faced each other in two wars, one in the 1990s won by Armenia and the second in 2020 won by Azerbaijan. Baku also won a lightning victory in 2023 over the Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, regaining control of this enclave.
This defeat has soured relations between Armenia and its traditional ally Russian, accused by Yerevan of inaction.
Mr. Pashinian said on Wednesday that his country would leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of countries from the former USSR led by Moscow. However, he did not give a clear deadline for this release.
After the loss of Karabakh, Yerevan sought to forge new security alliances by strengthening ties with the West.
Mr. Pashinian’s remarks to Parliament came the day after a joint statement by his Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, James O’Brien, assuring that Washington and Yerevan have agreed “to raise the status of (their) bilateral dialogue” with a view to a “strategic partnership”.