Police forcibly dispersed protesters who had taken up positions outside Government Building #3, near the Republic metro station, detaining scores in the process.

Civil servants inside the building pleaded, to no avail, with the police not to take any of the protesters into custody, arguing that their work wasn’t being hampered.

MP Nikol Pashinyan, who has called for a “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia tried to convince police officers that it was in their best interest to join the movement to oust a government merely interested in personal gain at the expense of the people and the nation.

While many protesters remain outside the building, police are escorting workers inside.