Anti-government protesters scuffle with police in central Yerevan

YEREVAN, May 5. /ARKA/. A scuffle between Armenian anti-government demonstrators and police officers occurred in downtown Yerevan earlier today.

Opposition lawmakers Gegham Manukyan and Anna Grigoryan were heading a procession down the Abovyan Street, chanting "Armenia without Nikol", when the riot police started detaining opposition activists.

A tense situation ensued. According to Manukyan, retired police colonel Sayat Shirinyan was among those detained by the police.

After a while, the rally continued. Opposition activists demanded that the police not interfere with the peaceful protest action.

The two major opposition alliances- Hayastan and Pativ Unem- began anti-government demonstrations in Armenia last month ‘to prevent the handover of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.’ On May 1 the protesters announced the beginning of a "decisive phase of the struggle" and large-scale civil disobedience actions, namely, blocking streets in the capital Yerevan.

The protesters say their goal is to increase pressure on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and make him step down.

On April 6 Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed in Brussels to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh and set up a joint commission on demarcating their common border. -0-