Shouting "Nikol, traitor" and "shame", anti-government protesters today marched from Yerevan’s France Square to the Presidential Residence, where Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan was scheduled to meet with visiting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.

Hayastan faction MP Gegham Manukyan told reporters that PM Pashinyan has no public mandate to negotiate peace with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The protesters then marched to Republic Square, where the "Armenian Forum for Democracy" event was to take place at the "Marriott Hotel

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy and Pashinyan were scheduled to attend the forum.

Opposition MPs entered the hotel but were barred from the conference hall.  

"This is their democracy. They discuss democracy behind closed doors. They don’t   allow deputies to enter and proclaim what is really happening in Armenia," said Anna Grigoryan, a member of the Hayastan faction.

Hayastan faction MP and parliamentary vice-speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan, in a Facebook post today, wrote that the opposition seeks to form a provisional government in Armenia that will organize a modernized joint security system for Armenia and Artsakh.

"Any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan is unacceptable for the movement. A reliable land connection must be ensured between the two Armenian states. The right of the people of Artsakh to security and self-determination must be guaranteed," Saghatelyan wrote.

He wrote that the opposition plans a rally in France Square today to protest Pashinyan’s meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on Sunday.

Update: 

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a transcript of Ambassador Tracy’s speech at today’s forum. Tracy said that the U.S. “has found a good partner with this government as a partner on the reform agenda and democratic activities.”

See full text HERE.