YEREVAN: Protesters demanding the resignation of Armenia’s prime minister on Monday blocked main streets in the capital city and other parts of the country, sporadically clashing with police.
Police said 196 people have been detained in Yerevan. Protests have roiled the country for weeks, sparked by the government’s return of four border villages to Azerbaijan.
The demonstrations are spearheaded by Bagrat Galstanyan, a high-ranking cleric in the Armenian Apostolic Church and archbishop of the Tavush diocese in Armenia’s northeast, where the returned villages are located.
Although the villages were the protests’ rallying point, they have expanded to express a wide array of complaints against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government.
Top figures in Gastanyan’s Tavush for the Homeland movement told a huge rally in Yerevan on Sunday that they support Galstanyan becoming the next prime minister.
The decision to turn over the villages in Tavush followed a lightning military campaign in September, in which Azerbaijan’s military forced ethnic Armenian separatists in the Karabakh region to capitulate.
After Azerbaijan took full control of Karabakh, about 120,000 people fled the region, almost all from its ethnic Armenian population.
Ethnic Armenian fighters backed by the Armenian military had taken control of Karabakh in 1994 after a six-year war. Azerbaijan regained some of the territory after fighting in 2020 ended an armistice brought on by a Russian peacekeeping force, which began withdrawing this year.
Pashinyan has said Armenia needs to quickly define the border with Azerbaijan to avoid a new round of hostilities.
Protests shut streets in Armenia’s capital, roads in other parts to demand the prime minister resign
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Protests shut streets in Armenia’s capital, roads in other parts to demand the prime minister resign
- Protests have roiled the country for weeks, sparked by the government’s return of four border villages to Azerbaijan
- Police on Monday said 196 people have been detained in Yerevan
Central African Republic president seeks third term in election
- Since Touadera was first elected in 2016, in the middle of a civil war, the CAR has seen unrest ease despite feuds between armed groups and the government in some regions
BANGUI: Voters in the Central African Republic cast their ballots for a new president on Sunday, with incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadera widely expected to win a third term after touting his success in steadying a nation long plagued by conflict.
Around 2.3 million people are eligible to vote, with parliamentary, municipal and regional polls taking place at the same time.
Escorted by members of the presidential guard, Touadera arrived at a high school to cast his own ballot.
He urged people to vote “to allow our country to develop, to allow our country to regain peace and security.”
“It’s a very important issue,” Touadera, 68, told reporters.
Streets in the capital Bangui were quiet, with armored vehicles of the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSCA deployed at road junctions.
Heavy security was posted outside voting stations, and helicopters flew overhead at a school near where Touadera was voting, while a long queue had formed. Since Touadera was first elected in 2016, in the middle of a civil war, the CAR has seen unrest ease despite feuds between armed groups and the government in some regions.
“We need a leader elected by the people, not someone who takes power by force,” teacher Julie Odjoubi, 44, said, her left thumb stained with purple ink to show she had voted.
Touadera is in pole position to win in a seven-strong field, after a new constitution was adopted in 2023.
