YEREVAN — More than 180 people were detained in the Armenian capital, authorities said, as police tried to stop opposition supporters from blocking streets in protest against the election of former President Serzh Sarkisian as prime minister.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital for an eighth straight day on April 20, opposing what they say is Sarkisian’s attempt to maintain his grip on power after his 10-year stint as president ended two weeks ago.
Opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinian, who is leading the protests, marched through downtown Yerevan in a crowd of demonstrators, while other protesters gathered at several sites.
Reports say protesters also rallied in Armenia’s second-largest city, Gyumri, where they attempted to block a highway leading to Yerevan.
The number of those detained grew steadily throughout the day, according to figures relased periodically by the national police.
“As of 3:30 p.m. local time, 183 people have been taken to police stations,” police spokesman Ashot Agaronian told the media.
Video footage showed men in plainclothes shoving protesters in unmarked cars. It was unclear whether they were police officers and whether those they apprehended were counted among those officially detained.
In an interview with Current Time TV, Pashinian rejected the accusation that protesters were committing offenses against public order.
“This is a completely peaceful [protest], but there is a new element to it,” Pashinian told Current Time, a project of RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, as he marched in a crowd.
“We are calling on the police not to protect Serzh Sarkisian, because they are not Serzh Sarkisian’s police, but the police of the Republic of Armenia and its people,” he said.
Sarkisian wants to “see Armenia either through barbed wire or through the slots in riot shields,” Pashinian said, suggesting that the longtime leader is hiding behind the police.
Throughout the city, groups of young activists, students, and other opposition supporters organized marches and blocked streets, interrupting traffic, and forcing police to respond by deploying units in various parts of Yerevan