Armenian opposition leader arrested

Armenian opposition leader arrested, but protesters rallyThe arrest at first seem to push the protesters back on their heels, but by evening they regrouped and held a massive rally in central Yerevan.

The Armenian authorities cracked down aggressively Sunday on anti-government protests that have consumed the country over the past week, arresting the protests' leader and temporarily throwing the movement he led into disarray. But the protesters regrouped by evening, holding by far their largest rally to date and showing that anger at the government showed no sign of dissipating.

On the morning of April 22, police arrested Nikol Pashinian, the member of parliament who has emerged as the unlikely new hero of the opposition to longtime leader Serzh Sargsyan. Pashinian has been the head of the protest movement that has energized the large majority of Armenians fed up with Sargsyan's autocratic, sclerotic rule.

The protests had been conducted in a decentralized fashion, with Pashinian going on daily marches around the city and leading nightly rallies at the central Republic Square, while other supporters carried out creative acts of civil disobedience around the city.

Nevertheless, the arrest of Pashinian seemed to disorient the movement. The group that was with Pashinian when he was arrested in Yerevan's Erebuni district marched defiantly toward the center of the city. One young man burned in effigya stuffed Cheburashka, the Soviet cartoon character to whom Sargsyan bears some resemblance.

But the marchers grew aimless after they were blocked at several points by police, turning around repeatedly to retrace their steps and at times walking in circles.

As they have in previous marches, the protesters shouted “join us!” to the bystanders who lined the roads or looked out from their apartment windows. This day, though, the cries seemed more insistent and desperate. The mood on the march was notably more somber than on previous days.

“It's time to do something,” said one sixty-something marcher, Serozh Garayan. “We need to get more people, and then we will see what we can do.”

“It's clear” that momentum was lost following Pashinian's arrest, said another marcher, fifty-something Karine Sargsyan. “This is what they were counting on.”

By evening, though, a crowd of protesters completely filled the central Republic Square and spilled over into the surrounding streets. The mood was again festive, with groups circulating holding massive banners in the Armenian flag tricolor to chants of “Armenia, Armenia.” Young people handed out signs reading “I Am Nikol.”

It was a substantially larger crowd than the rally the night before; one local estimate put it at 115,000 people. The police had promised to break up any rally at the square but they did not follow through on the threat.

Speakers set out a new agenda: the operating slogan would no longer be “Reject Serzh” but “Victory.” “The people have already rejected Serzh,” said one speaker, Ruben Rubinyan. “Serzh thought he was a chess player, but he's a backgammon player who got a bad roll.”

Rubinyan called on protesters to carry on their civil disobedience activities without Pashinian or other leaders. “I could be arrested tomorrow,” he said.

Pashinian was arrested barely an hour after meeting with Sargsyan in the morning at the Marriott Hotel on Republic Square. The meeting – televised and attended by dozens of journalists – ended after only three minutes when Sargsyan walked out, complaining that Pashinian was presenting him with an “ultimatum” to step down. “This is not talks, not a dialogue. It’s just an ultimatum, blackmail of the state, of the legitimate authorities,” Sargsyan told Pashinian.

Sargsyan also ominously referenced March 1, 2008, when police violently broke up crowds of protesters against Sargsyan's election, killing ten. “You have not learned the lesson from March 1,” Sargsyan said.

Police also arrested two other members of parliament who have been active in the protests, Sasun Mikaelian and Ararat Mirzoyan, along with other organizers.

“The only way for them to deal with these protests was to isolate the leaders and hope that the protests will grow chaotic and that people would get demoralized,” Mikayel Zolyan, a political analyst with the Yerevan think tank Regional Studies Center, told Eurasianet. “You can isolate them but people are still going to go out on the street. Maybe their actions will be less coordinated and effective. We still have to see how that plays out.”

The protests began April 13, in opposition to Sargsyan continuing his rule by moving from the presidency into the prime minister's seat. He did so as the country adopted a new constitution changing to a parliamentary form of government in which the prime minister, rather than the president, is the most powerful figure.

YEREVAN - Armenia’s political turmoil deepened on Sunday with the detention of anti-government protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, shortly after Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian stormed out of talks on the tenth day of mass rallies against his rule.

Pashinyan and two other opposition politicians “were detained as they were committing socially dangerous acts”, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.  Armenian police earlier denied opposition MP Sasun Mikaelyan’s report that Pashinyan had been arrested and his whereabouts are unknown.

As a lawmaker, he is protected by parliamentary immunity and cannot be arrested without the approval of fellow MPs. It came hours after Sarkisian stormed out of talks with Pashinyan on Sunday morning, accusing him of “blackmail”.

The tense televised meeting in the capital Yerevan between the premier and Pashinyan lasted only a couple of minutes before the premier cut it short. Opposition supporters denounce Serzh Sarkisian’s efforts to remain in power as prime minister after a decade serving as president.

“I came here to discuss your resignation,” Pashinyan, the leader of the opposition Civil Contract party, had told the prime minister in front of the cameras. “This is not a dialogue, this is blackmail, I only can advise you to return to a legal framework... Otherwise you will bear the responsibility” for the consequences, replied Sarkisian, a former military officer. “You don’t understand the situation in Armenia. The power is now in people’s hands,” Pashinyan hit back.

Sarkisian said the Civil Contract party “can’t speak on behalf of the people”, having scored only eight percent in a recent parliamentary election, during the brief talks.

HUNDREDS DETAINED

Pashinyan then vowed to “step up pressure” on Sarkisian to force him to resign and called on police officers to “lay down arms and join in the protests”.

Bu instead security forces intervened using stun grenades and began dispersing the crowd in Yerevan’s suburban Erebuni district. Hundreds of people were detained at protest rallies held across Yerevan during the day, police said in a statement, and seven protesters have sought medical help, according to Armenia’s health ministry.

Armenia’s interior ministry said it took the decision to “disperse demonstrators, including those assembled in Yerevan’s Republic Square.”

“In order to perform these duties, police are entitled to carry out arrests and use force. We urge protesters to comply with these and other lawful demands of policemen,” the statement said.

But tens of thousands of protesters defied the police warning and in the evening filled central Yerevan’s Republic Square, an AFP journalist at the scene reported. “By beating up people, the authorities simply can’t change the situation in their favour. Too many people don’t trust Sarkisian. The genie is out of the bottle,” a 32-year-old protester, Sona Petrosyan, told AFP at the rally.

Another young protester who didn’t give his name said: “We will gather here every day and hold peaceful rallies until Serzh Sarkisian resigns.”  The US embassy in Yerevan urged “the government to show restraint to allow for peaceful protest and... those exercising their freedom of assembly to do so responsibly, to avoid violence, and to prevent an escalation of tensions”.

“A peaceful resolution requires meaningful political dialogue in good faith,” the embassy said in a statement.

The EU delegation to Armenia issued a statement expressing “concern” over the rapidly unfolding crisis. “The European Union reiterates that it is crucial that all parties show restraint and responsibility and urgently seek a negotiated solution,” the statement said.

Opposition supporters have criticised the 63-year-old leader over poverty, corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs. Pashinyan had earlier announced the “start of a peaceful velvet revolution” in the landlocked South Caucasus nation of 2.9 million people.

He called for a nationwide campaign of “civil disobedience”, urging civil servants “to stop obeying Sarkisian”. Under a new parliamentary system of government, lawmakers elected Sarkisian as prime minister last week.

Constitutional amendments approved in 2015 have transferred power from the presidency to the premiership. After Sarkisian was first elected in 2008, 10 people died and hundreds were injured in post-election clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate