The principal of Etchmiadzin P.S.#2 locked the doors of the school today, forcing pupils inside to rush to the windows and voice their support for the strike.
The students then marched through Odzoun, calling on residents to join them.
Rustam Badasyan, Pashinyan’s attorney, told Hetq that he had telephoned the Sevan Police, only to be told that they had been holding Pashinyan but he had been transferred elsewhere.
In an apparent response to the thousands now gathered in Yerevan’s Republic Square, the government has deployed police units and armored vehicle to Baghramyan Avenue, where the National Assembly and Presidential Palace are located.
At around 3pm today, protesters from nearby towns and villages shut down traffic on the Noyemberyan-Alaverdi roadway, moving on to blocking Bargratashen Border Crossing in around half an hour. For three hours, Chief of Tavush Marz Police, Colonel G. Grigoryan could not convince demonstrators to unblock the border crossing.
A manifestation of national solidarity, not seen since the Karabakh Movement rallies of the late 1980s, is unfolding in Yerevan.
We urge the government to show restraint to allow for peaceful protest and we urge those exercising their freedom of assembly to do so responsibly, to avoid violence, and to prevent an escalation of tensions.
Residents of Stepanavan, a town in Armenia’s Lori Province, joined the anti-Serzh Sargsyan protest today.
Minutes ago, men in civilian dress forcibly detained Civil Contract political party member Tigran Avinyan.