"Dem Em" member Karen Hovhannisyan started his speech today during a Yerevan strategizing meeting of those opposed to Armenia’s mandatory pension system with a call to officials to immediately halt deductions from wages and to return those already made.

“If the government can’t resolved this issue, then we the people are obliged to continue our struggle,” Hovhannisyan told the crowd, adding that the will of the people is the law and that the government must come to terms with the people.

Saying he was beholden to no one except for two people, his parents, Hovhannisyan told the crowd that none of them were obliged to pay into the pension system.

The activist said that the government had left the people with two options, either the pension system or migration.

“We here today have decided to fight back,” Hovhannisyan declared.