Armenia's Ex-president Set To Keep Power As Opposition Blocks Govt Buildings

Opposition demonstrators blockaded government buildings in Armenia's capital Tuesday as parliament was set to confirm the pro-Moscow former president as the real power in the country.

Yerevan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Apr, 2018 ) :Opposition demonstrators blockaded government buildings in Armenia's capital Tuesday as parliament was set to confirm the pro-Moscow former president as the real power in the country.

Parliament was expected to elect ex-president Serzh Sarkisian as prime minister under a new parliamentary system of government that will allow the Kremlin-backed 63-year-old to maintain his chokehold on the ex-Soviet country.

Several thousand demonstrators pressed ahead with protests that began Friday, marching through the centre of the capital Yerevan and staging sit-in protests outside government buildings. Protesters blockaded the entrances to about a dozen government buildings, including those housing the foreign ministry and the central bank, and a bigger protest was planned for Tuesday evening.

But the ruling Republican Party went ahead with the vote despite the opposition rallies that saw several dozen protesters hurt in clashes with police in Yerevan on Monday. "I proclaim today the start of a peaceful velvet revolution in Armenia," opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan told a rally in Yerevan, calling on supporters to "paralyse the work of all government agencies." Rallies were also held in the country's second- and third-largest cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor.

On Monday, police used stun grenades as protesters sought to break through a barbed wire cordon in the centre of Yerevan in an effort to get to the parliament building. Authorities said 46 people including six police and opposition leader Pashinian sought medical help on Monday.