Got TIPS or BREAKING NEWS? Please call 1-284-442-8000 direct/can also WhatsApp same number or Email ALL news to:newsvino@outlook.com;                               ads call 1-284-440-6666

Capital at standstill as protesters take to streets

May 2nd, 2018 | Tags:
Armenia's capital Yerevan was brought to a standstill on Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators blocked roads and danced in the streets, after parliament refused to elect their protest leader as the new prime minister. Photo: CNN
CNN

YEREVAN, Armenia - Armenia's capital Yerevan was brought to a standstill on Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators blocked roads and danced in the streets, after parliament refused to elect their protest leader as the new prime minister.
Supporters of Nikol Pashinyan heeded his call for a nationwide day of action, blocking roads leading to Yerevan's main airport, and forcing some passengers to leave their cars and continue to the terminals on foot.
 
Protesters also blocked roads to government buildings, including the Ministry of Defense, demonstrator Marina Gasparyan told CNN.

Pashinyan, 42, lost a parliamentary vote on Tuesday to become interim prime minister. The vote followed the resignation last week of former prime minister Serzh Sargsyan, who was forced to step down amid weeks of mass demonstrations, led by Pashinyan's movement.
 
But Pashinyan's bid to become the new prime minister was thwarted by the Republican party, which holds a majority in parliament and is allied to Sargsyan, after nine hours of bad-tempered debate. After losing the vote, Pashinyan called for protests on Wednesday.
 
"I'd say 96 percent of Yerevan streets are blocked by protesters. Streets are closed mainly by cars," Marina Gasparyan, the demonstrator, told CNN, adding that many protesters were communicating using the messaging app Telegram.
 
The protests appeared to be largely peaceful, with local residents giving out strawberries and water to the demonstrators, according to Gasparyan.
 
Elsewhere, demonstrators were pictured dancing in the streets.
 
Protester and investment analyst, Emin Ohanjanyan, told CNN that the demonstrations had so far been very peaceful.
"I think the protest will continue because now even government employees are with the protesters," he said, adding, "I think it will be resolved in a week."
 
Pashinyan, a former journalist and leader of the opposition Civil Contract party, will face a second round of parliamentary votes next week. If it again fails to choose an interim prime minister, there must be new elections.
 
With his trademark black cap and camouflage T-shirt, Pashinyan has cut a rebellious figure throughout the protests.
 
His rough-and-ready style was in stark contrast to the suited former prime minister Sargsyan, and during a televised meeting last month -- which the prime minister walked out of -- Pashinyan even appeared with a bandaged hand which he reportedly injured on barbed wire.

Leave a Reply



Create a comment


Create a comment

Disclaimer: Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) welcomes your thoughts, feedback, views, bloggs and opinions. However, by posting a blogg you are agreeing to post comments or bloggs that are relevant to the topic, and that are not defamatory, liable, obscene, racist, abusive, sexist, anti-Semitic, threatening, hateful or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be excluded permanently from making contributions. Please view our declaimer above this article. We thank you in advance for complying with VINO's policy.

Follow Us On

Disclaimer: All comments posted on Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) are the sole views and opinions of the commentators and or bloggers and do not in anyway represent the views and opinions of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Virgin Islands News Online and its parent company.