Armenia detains 273 anti-government protesters

YEREVAN

Armenia said on Monday police had detained hundreds of demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over territorial concessions made to arch foe Azerbaijan.

Protests erupted in the Caucasus nation last month after the government agreed to hand territory it had controlled since the 1990s back to neighboring Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan's position remains unshaken despite the challenge mounted by charismatic archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who is trying to launch an impeachment process against him.

Pashinyan, a former journalist and opposition lawmaker, came to power in a peaceful revolution after leading street protests in 2018.

Hundreds of protestors on Monday took to the streets across Armenia, trying to block roads in what Galstanyan has called a "nationwide campaign of disobedience."

The Interior Ministry said that by "a total of 273 citizens were detained for disobeying the lawful demands of police."

Last week, Yerevan returned control over four border villages it had seized decades ago to Azerbaijan, a key step toward normalizing ties between the two countries, who fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The area Armenia has handed back is strategically important for the landlocked country because it controls sections of a vital highway to Georgia.

Armenian residents of nearby settlements say the move cuts them off from the rest of the country and they have accused Pashinyan of giving away territory without getting anything in return.

Pashinyan defended the territorial concessions, saying they were aimed at securing peace with Baku.

On May 26, several thousand people flooded Yerevan's central Republic Square in a fresh protest spearheaded by Galstanyan.