More police officers gathered in Kasakh village of Kotayk Province of Armenia where residents are protesting against the appointment of an acting head of the village.

Since morning, the residents have been holding a protest near the village council. Before this, the deputy head of the village had reported that the village head had gone on vacation and that he was appointed the acting head, and the Labor Code of Armenia prohibits the dismissal of a person during leave and the appointment of another acting head. As a matter of fact, the head of the village was arrested a few weeks ago.

The new acting head is Artak Tovmasyan, who was appointed by the regional governor and is a member of the ruling Civil Contract Party. He is also on the electoral list of the ruling party for the upcoming local self-government elections in the enlarged Nairi community (Kasakh is included in this community).

One of the protesters told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the door of the village council is currently closed, the guards have closed the door as a sign of protest so that the acting head doesn’t enter the building.

There are a large number of red beret police officers. The situation got tense at some moment, but calmed down after a short while.