A group of citizens gathered in front of the Yerevan Municipality today, demanding Mayor Taron Margaryan's resignation.
Unlike May 1 special session of the National Assembly, which lasted over eight hours, with hundreds of thousands of citizens following the session in the Republic Square from the morning, the session invited on May 8 was short: Nikol Pashinyan was elected prime minister with 59 votes for and 42 - against. Citizens, engaged in civil disobedience acts for weeks, celebrated the victory of their candidate all day long.
Anti-government protest leader Nikol Pashinyan was waiting at Zvartnots Airport to welcome him.
Not elected Prime Minister at May 1 special session of the National Assembly, Nikol Pashinyan called on the people to ramp up their civil disobedience by blocking all roads, public transportation and the Zvartnots Airport.
After the National Assembly voted 56-45 not to elect him prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan made his way to Yerevan’s Republic Square where tens of thousands of his supporters were following the confirmation hearing live, on large outdoor screens.
Nikol Pashinyan took his anti-government message to the towns of Gyumri and Vanadzor:
It took nearly two weeks of continuous peaceful civil disobedience before Serzh Sargsyan called it quits and resigned as prime minister on April 23.
Hot upon the heels of Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation as Armenian prime minister, police who had been patrolling Republic Square, the epicenter of the anti-government movement for the past two weeks, quietly boarded waiting buses and left.
Despite the detention, and later, the arrest of Nikol Pashinyan and two other Yelk Alliance MPs, thousands took to the streets of the Armenian capital to voice their opposition to Serzh Sargsyan and his government.
After the rally, thousands marched through downtown Yerevan, calling for Sargsyan’s immediate abdication and an end to Republican Party of Armenia rule.
Protesters have blocked streets and intersections in a movement that MP Nikol Pashinyan has recently described as a ‘velvet revolution’.
This evening’s rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square, the heart of the Armenia capital saw huge crowds voice their opposition to Serzh Sargsyan and his ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
The protesters started their march this morning at Government Building #3, and then proceeded along Arshakunyats Avenue, Shenkavit, and Isakov.
Thousands packed Yerevan’s Republic Square yesterday evening to hear Nikol Pashinyan and others talk about the protests, originally launched to prevent Serzh Sargsyan from Armenia’s new prime minister, but which have morphed into a movement designed to paralyze the normal functioning of the government.
While Armenia’s National Assembly voted to elect Serzh Sargsyan as the country’s next prime minister, protesters continued to close off streets in downtown Yerevan and elsewhere.
During the heralded Day of Civil Disobedience, protesters brought downtown Yerevan to halt, stopping vehicular traffic and shutting down the subway system.
Citizens protesting against Serzh Sargsyan's likely election as the country’s next prime minister spent their second night at France Square, blocking all the entrances with benches and garbage bins.
“My Step” and “Reject Serzh” initiatives continue the protest against the Serzh Sargsyan’s likely election as the country’s next prime minister.
After the rally ended, people then marched to France Square and stages a sit-down, closing the area to traffic.
Civil Contract political party head Nikol Pashinyan, the driving force behind the movement to reject Sargsyan, called on citizens to join the protesters and shut down all downtown Yerevan.
“My Step” marchers reached the Liberty Square, which was the final point of their two-week-long march. In Yerevan, they were joined by "Reject Serzh" initiative members.
They wanted to confront Simonyan and charge him with turning the university into a tool used by Serzh Sargsyan and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia to “enslave students entering into adulthood”.
Members of the Reject Serzh movement got in a tent today in the middle of Yerevan’s Mashtots Avenue and cops immediately pulled them out, escorting them to the sidewalk.
Hundreds took to the streets of Yerevan today to voice their opposition to Serzh Sargsyan’s nomination and election as Armenia’s next prime minister.
Although me and my friend Tsovinar planned to hitchhike to the north - Lori Province, in the end we found ourselves heading to the south - Vayots Dzor and Syunik Provinces.
The marchers held aloft photos of the ten individuals who died that day and called for the guilty to be punished.
Crowds of people filed through Yerevan’s Liberty Square today to witness a variety of visuals chronicling the birth of the Karabakh Movement thirty years ago.
The protesters set off from Aznavour Square opposite Kino Moskva in the march organized by the Yelk Alliance
Hetq visited 70 households in multi-apartment buildings located in eleven of Yerevan’s twelve administrative districts, to find out the ratio of utility bills to monthly winter income.
Hundreds of university students demonstrated outside Armenia’s parliament today, while inside, MPs debated a bill on military service that would severely restrict the granting of draft deferments.
Hundreds of university students took to the streets in Yerevan today to protest a government bill that would effectively do away with most draft deferments. Leaving from Yerevan State University, the students then marched to the State Medical University and the State Engineering University, calling on their counterparts to join them.
In Part 2, I will write about the trip back to Armenia and the people I met along the way.
The wine also accumulates emotions inputted during the whole process - starting from the harvest, ending with bottling.
The grape harvest is in full swing in Kaghtsrashen, a village in Armenia’s Ararat Province.
During the exhibition, at Yerevan’s Mashtots Park, participants will also be able to take an issue of the “Tsets” (Moth) satirical paper.
Protesters held placards reading "Gold to you, cyanide to us?" Cops, caught off guard, rushed to scene to stop the “illegal orb”.
The performance is based on Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa di Requiem designed and staged by Paolo Micciche', and features 3-D installations displaying Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Ardvi residents have opposed plans to open the mine, a mere two kilometers from their village, from the start.
Artist Artur Sharoyan consulted with many individuals and organizations before organizing this live installation in Yerevan targeting a very sensitive issue in Armenia – the number of soldiers who have died, either during combat or in circumstances that remain suspect, ever since the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire went into effect.
September 1, the first day of school in Armenia.
Hi, this is Hetq photographer Narek Aleksanyan, here to tell you, via photos, about my recent two- week, 4,000-kilometer hitchhiking adventure.
The first post-Soviet constitution was adopted by a nation-wide referendum on this day in 1995.
The parliament will debate the proposal today which has been introduced in the form of a bill to amend the existing law on Sevan’s eco-system.
Unexpected adventures on the way and our conversations with drivers kind enough to give us a ride, took our minds off the heat. I was joined on this road trip by Danil and Ani.
Before leaving, Greta reminds me that she will become a hairdresser. I say I'll definitely go to her to get my hair cut.
Collaborating with the Faculty of Biology of Yerevan State University, the institute deals with the plant world, plant evolution studies, the research of fossil plants, forestry studies, and other related issues.
"I remember what I've seen. These things help me relive the past," Karen Panyan says.
These kids are strong, are survivors, despite their circumstances.
A 20-gram tube of Betadine, a cream she rubs on her swollen and pus-infected feet, costs 2,100 AMD. She can’t afford to use the cream on a regular basis.