It’s been 10 days of public protests and acts of civil disobedience in Yerevan, and across Armenia. These acts have worked to throttle day to day governance and impact business as usual as roads, intersections and highways have been blocked at different times.
Nikol Pashinyan, the face and voice of the movement, has been leading daily marches throughout Yerevan. These marches have steadily gained in numbers, and as a result, have picked up momentum as the days have gone on. For the past 5 nights, the daily marches have culminated in a public rally held in Yerevan’s Republic Sq, with a backdrop of government buildings, the Marriott Armenia and The National Gallery of Armenia.
As the rallies have increased in turnout each night and Republic Square gets more congested with people during these public rallies, the government and the police have taken a stronger hand in trying to deal with the situation. Members of Parliament, Sassoon Mikayelyan and Ararat Mirzoyan, who have Parliamentary Immunity, were detained. Armen Grigoryan, a leader of the #RejectSerzh initiative, was arrested for organizing mass disorders according to Article 225 of the Armenian Penal Code.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, as well as President Armen Sargsyan, provided statements indicating their willingness to start a dialogue. Nikol Pashinyan invited President Armen Sargsyan to join him in Republic Square, before the start of the public rally, to have a discussion, which President Sargsyan attempted. The meeting was short, lasting just a few minutes. After the public rally concluded, it was announced that at 10:00 AM Sunday morning, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan would meet publicly, at a neutral site, the Marriott Armenia.
This morning, the meeting took place in the Marriott. Nikol Pashinyan, who at last nights rally had asked the gathered audience if he had the right to speak on their behalf, to which they responded in the affirmative, asked for the attendance of journalists and reporters at the meeting. The meeting began with the Prime Minister indicating his pleasure at the meeting being accepted. However, the meeting quickly deteriorated from there.
Pashinyan indicated to Prime Minister Sargsyan that a misunderstanding must have occurred, as he was ready to discuss the plan that he and the activists had proposed at the public rally on April 21st which began with the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan from his post of Prime Minister. He then requested the Prime Minister to not call this meeting a dialogue. PM Sargsyan then followed that with the familiar statement that government agencies have been publicly stating over the last few days, that these marches are not legal and they must begin to act within a legal manner.
This statement was dismissed by Pashinyan, who responded to the Prime Minister by saying, “Mr Sargsyan, I want to be very clear. No one has dared to and can dare to speak to us in the language of threats. I say you do not realize the situation in Armenia now… The power of the Republic of Armenia has already passed to the hands of the people.”
After a tense back and forth exchange, where Sargsyan claimed that the YELQ faction (a minority block in Parliament), with only 7-8% of the popular vote, did not have the right to speak for the people, Sargsyan then decided it was time to leave and promptly stood up and left the meeting.
Read more:
The Conversation of Nikol Pashinyan and Serzh Sargsyan
Pashinyan stayed and spoke to reporters for a few minutes longer, clarifying that the acts of civil disobedience that have been engaged, are lawful. He then announced that the marches will continue throughout the day and another public rally will be held at 7:00 PM in Republic Sq.
Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Nikol Pashinyan left the Marriott. Soon after, CivilNet reports that officers in plain clothes beat and subsequently detained Nikol Pashinyan, who, as a Member of Parliament, also has Parliamentary Immunity.
