Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the digest of top news of protests in Yerevan as of 06.05.22:

  • Armenian National Assembly Vice Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan has spearheaded more than a week of protests in Yerevan to force the resignation of PM Nikol Pashinyan against the government’s apparent willingness to compromise on Armenians’ sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh

Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed last month to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh and set up a joint commission on demarcating their common border during talks in Brussels.

Baku wants the peace deal to be based on five elements, including a mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity.

Pashinyan has publicly stated that the elements are acceptable to Yerevan.

Thousands of government opponents were gathering in Yerevan’s Liberty Square and backed a demand, submitted at the parliament by the opposition Armenia and With Honor factions, that Pashinyan resign.

Ishkhan Saghatelyan told supporters this week the administration has only ‘a few days left in power.’

He also announced on Wednesday that their fight should be intensified and encompass the whole of Armenia. He called on the people of the provinces to resume protests and demonstrations in the provinces.

Several roads were closed off in the provinces as well, and virtually all bridges in Yerevan were blocked by the protesters.

  • While protesters marched to the National Assembly on Wednesday, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said at the parliament that former President Serzh Sargsyan had scuttled the negotiation process.

Pashinyan claimed that to stop the war, he had to agree that Karabakh was a part of Azerbaijan.

Hearing this, opposition MPs left the chamber, while his supporters clapped.

"So, you don’t want to hear this. You’re running away, like you always do,” Pashinyan noted.

  • Police in Armenia have detained hundreds of people as protests mount against the government’s ongoing negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Police said that more than 200 protesters were detained as they temporarily blocked several streets in Yerevan's center and other provincial cities on May 3.

According to protesters, police have been treating both protesters and the media covering the events with force. Activists described their actions as “brutal.”

“Today's violence is just as unacceptable as it was in 2016, 2008, 2004, and so on until 1991,” analyst Tatul Hakobyan wrote on Facebook.

  • Levon Kocharyan, the son of Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan - was taking an active part in the protests, blocking roads and paralyzing streets.

He was arrested on Wednesday and later released.

Meanwhile, his wife and Armenian singer Sirusho performed Wednesday in French Square calling on Pashinyan to resign.

  • A demonstrator in Yerevan’s France Square died from cardiac arrest.

All necessary cardiopulmonary resuscitation measures were immediately taken in the hospital. Unfortunately the efforts of the medics failed and the patient was pronounced dead.

  • Russia is interested for the current situation in Armenia to come to an end as soon as possible and for a period of stability to begin, calling it Armenia’s internal affair entirely and completely, said spokesperson for Russian president Dmitry Peskov.

“This is entirely and completely Armenia's internal affair. Armenia, as you know, is our ally, it is our partner in several very important integration formats. Armenia is our great friend, and therefore, of course, we are interested in seeing this period end in Armenia as soon as possible and a period of stability begin again in the country,” said Peskov.