A crowd of demonstrators tried to interrupt into authorities buildings, calling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a “traitor”
Demonstrators within the Armenian capital of Yerevan have tried to storm authorities buildings, in accordance with experiences from the scene. With Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warning of a possible “coup,” police held again the gang and reportedly used stun grenades.
Video footage obtained by RT confirmed ranks of cops forming a cordon across the cupboard constructing on Tuesday afternoon, as an indignant crowd pelted them with bottles. The constructing’s glass doorways have been broken, and photographs shared on social media confirmed some members of the gang punching and kicking cops as they tried to breach the cordon.
The police reportedly used stun grenades and smoke or tear gasoline on the gang, with some protesters claiming to have suffered minor accidents.
BREAKING: In Yerevan, clashes have damaged out between gathered residents and the police close to the Authorities constructing. The members of the protest are demanding the quick resignation of the federal government, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom they accuse of betrayal,… pic.twitter.com/OCIdYdUWu0
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) September 19, 2023
The protests broke out after Azerbaijan launched what it calls “counter-terrorism measures” in opposition to the ethnically-Armenian province of Nagorno-Karabakh earlier on Tuesday. Baku claims that it’s concentrating on a buildup of the Armenian navy within the province, whereas Yerevan denies deploying models to Nagorno-Karabakh and accuses Azerbaijan of trying to hold out an “ethnic cleaning” of the Armenian enclave.
Protesters may very well be heard chanting “Nikol is a traitor” in a number of video clips, doubtless a reference to Pashinyan’s assertion earlier this summer time that he would acknowledge Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, if Baku have been to ensure the human rights of its inhabitants. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has promised to take action, however has beforehand referred to Aremenians as “not even worthy of being servants,” and is taken into account a human rights abuser by Western observers.
Armenia is a former Soviet republic, and is a member of the Russia-led Collective Safety Treaty Group. Russia mediated a ceasefire to a large-scale battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, however Pashinyan has since turned his again on Moscow and made diplomatic overtures to the West. In current months, his authorities has despatched assist cash to Ukraine, introduced navy workout routines with the US, and begun ratifying the Rome Statute of the Worldwide Legal Court docket, which might place the nation underneath obligation to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he have been to journey there.
With the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh underneath artillery fireplace and Azerbaijani forces apparently not heeding provincial officers’ name for a ceasefire, Pashinyan launched a press release on Tuesday afternoon warning {that a} coup may very well be launched in opposition to his authorities.
“As anticipated, varied statements come from totally different locations, as much as requires staging of a coup in Armenia,” Pashinyan acknowledged, pledging to uphold “regulation and order” and react to the alleged “coup makes an attempt” accordingly.
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