Dozens of protesters were arrested today in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, where protests against former President Serzh Sargsyan, who became incumbent Prime Minister, continue for a seventh day.
The morning hundreds of demonstrators who had come down the street responding to the call of the opposition leader and MP Nicole Pasinian attempted to block the entrance of the government headquarters in the city center, causing the intervention of the police during the demonstrations prosigage dozens of people, according with a journalist of the French Agency.
Protesters accuse Serge Sarkisian, who has just completed his second and final presidential term and returned to power after being elected prime minister by parliament after a controversial constitutional reform, of wanting to remain in power for life.
"The police think that the arrests will frighten us and that we will lose our morale. "But we will not stop, we are determined to continue our struggle for change," 24-year-old protester Suren Harutyunyan told AFP.
For his part, Pasinyan called on the police "to stop protecting government buildings because they belong to the people, not to Sargsyan, who usurped power in Armenia."
Hundreds of protesters marched in the morning in Yerevan, disrupting traffic in neighborhoods of the city. They left leaflets in favor of the changes on the bus windshields and shouted anti-government slogans.
Many drivers clapped in support of the protesters, responding to Nicole Pasinian's call: "If you are against Serge, step on the crow!"
The first meeting of the Sarkisian government is expected to take place this afternoon.
Last Wednesday night, at least 16.000 people gathered in downtown Yerevan against the new prime minister, following a call by Nicole Pasinian, who declared "the beginning of a velvet revolution" in Armenia and called for a national "political disobedience" campaign.
"Our plush revolution is spreading," Pasinyan told a crowd of protesters, but fewer than on Tuesday, when 40.000 people gathered in Yerevan for the largest demonstration in years in this small Caucasian democracy.
Following the revision of the constitution, the role of the President of Armenia is largely ceremonial, with the head of government having extensive powers.