March 31
Yelk Faction MP Nikol Pashinyan and his team set out from Gyumri on a two-week 200-kilometer march throughout Armenia to protest Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy for the post of prime minister.
Yelk Faction MP Nikol Pashinyan and his team set out from Gyumri on a two-week 200-kilometer march throughout Armenia to protest Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy for the post of prime minister.
Marchers arrive in Yerevan
3:30pm – Some 130 marchers, led by Pashinyan, force their way into Yerevan State University, demanding to see Rector Aram Simonyan, who locked himself in his office.
6:30pm - The first protest rally takes place in Yerevan’s Republic Square.
“If we’re five people, we’ll do something that five can do. If we’re 100, we’ll do something appropriate. If we’re 100,000, we’ll change the regime” - Nikol Pashinyan.
8:29pm – Pashinyan declares that the protesters will stage a sit-down in France Square and won’t budge from the site.
Pashinyan and a group of marchers force their way into the offices of Armenian Public Radio and TV. Pashinyan demands live radio time. Management refuses.
Pashinyan tells the press covering the encounter that a rally was planned for 6:30pm at France Square.
Pashinyan declares that the first stage of his program had ended and calls for the start of peaceful civil disobedience.
Protesters and police clash on Baghramyan Avenue. Police use concussion grenades. Several people are injured, including Pashinyan, who is treated and later returns. Barbed wire blocks the access to the National Assembly via Baghramyan Avenue.
The metro bypasses the Marshall Baghramyan station. Police units cordon off government buildings.
By a vote of 77-17, the National Assembly elects Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister. Referring to the protests, Sargsyan says,“I’ve never been thirsty for blood.”
Civil disobedience in Yerevan grows. Major intersections are blocked. Dozens are detained.
“If we can shut down the entire state governing system, it means the government isn’t governing the country and that the country is governing itself” – Pashinyan.
Serzh Sargsyan meets with protest leader Pashinyan. “You haven’t learnt any lesson from March 1,” Sargsyan says, leaving three minutes after arriving.
Hours later, police arrest Yelk Faction MPs Nikol Pashinyan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Sasoun Mikayelyan.
Civil disobedience intensifies. University students join the protest marches.
Pashinyan and the other MPs are released.
Serzh Sargsyan resigns as prime minister an hour later.
Civil disobedience transforms into celebration.
The National Assembly, by a vote of 56-45, rejects Pashinyan’s bid to become prime minister.
Protesters block major streets in Yerevan and several highways in the country.
Strikes and blocked roads bring life in the Armenian capital to a standstill.
Republican Party of Armenia faction head Vahram Baghdasaryan says party MPs will vote in favor of Pashinyan on May 8.
Nikol Pashinyan is elected prime minister