Opposition MP slams Armenian government crackdown on protesters
Opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan has denounced Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government for its crackdown on protesters opposing the land surrender to Azerbaijan and demanding the premier’s resignation.
Police used brute force to detain over 200 people blocking streets in Yerevan as part of a civil disobedience campaign led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan on Monday.
"By and large, police are fulfilling the orders of the ruling party, whose members have repeatedly warned of retribution against those holding opposition political views and trying to defend them,” Abrahamyan, the Pativ Unem faction secretary, wrote on Facebook.
He pointed to the brutal detention of his opposition colleague Ashot Simonyan in Yerevan earlier on Monday.
“The ruling regime is ready to sacrifice half of the country and beat up people in an effort to stay in power,” the MP stated.