In a Facebook Live feed at 14:00 local time, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses the demonstrations taking place in Yerevan. The demonstrations are regarding a number of different issues; the resignation of Taron Margaryan, the Yerevan city mayor, and the General Prosecutor of Armenia, Arthur Davtyan, the release of the imprisoned members of Sasna Dzerer, the re-opening of the Nairit Factory where workers were let go and not paid their outstanding wages when the factory shut down suddenly, and the loss of jobs due to optimization of the military administrative agency.
In the third day of the demonstrations, protesters and groups began to block roads and intersections, impacting traffic in Yerevan, including shutting down Arshagunyats Avenue.
In his address to the viewers of the feed, Pashinyan requests that all demonstrators and protesters stop performing their acts of civil disobedience by 15:00. He goes on to say that the acts of civil disobedience during the Velvet Revolution were used because there was a government in place that was unresponsive to the needs and wants of the constituency, but now this government is responsive to the people.
Pashinyan asks that individuals across the country write out the issues and complaints that they have, in a very specific manner, and relay those complaints by sending letters to, or calling government offices and registering their complaints.
The prime minister then directly addresses the calls for the resignation of Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan as well as the General Prosecutor of Armenia, Arthur Davtyan, by saying that those issues will be looked at through the laws and what can be done through the means of government, as well as through the prism of the message and goals of the Velvet Revolution.
Pashinyan wraps up his Facebook Live post by again asking demonstrations to be done at 15:00, and he reminds people that the government will look to address each of the issues they send. He notes that all problems and issues cannot be solved in one day. The issues will be solved by the priority of the problem, and not in a hurried manner, but…”we will fix the issues that can be fixed, and those that can’t be solved, we will solve those too, because we said before that we can solve the impossible,” Pashinyan says at the end.
