Armenian opposition to stage protests in September

The Armenian opposition, which is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's cabinet, intends to take to the streets in September 2022 after a nearly month-long hiatus.

The latest opposition rally was held on July 29, after which a break was announced, the Armenian office of Radio Liberty reports.

Gegham Manukyan, a member of Armenia's opposition parliamentary faction, stated that the opposition members have been actively working during this period, and their struggle has not stopped.

He noted that members of the Resistance movement actively worked both in Armenia’s capital Yerevan and in various districts of Armenia.

"Rallies ceased but this does not mean that our struggle ended. It is wrong to say that this is a new stage, a new situation. The struggle has not been completed, the struggle is underway," Manukyan said.

The two parliamentary opposition factions Armenia and I have Honour accuse the authorities of making excessive concessions to Azerbaijan on the Karabakh issue, demanding the premier's resignation. Opposition supporters have been holding daily protests in various parts of Yerevan for several weeks since May 1, 2022, while blocking one of the central squares of Yerevan - France Square, in which tents were set up. Finally, the opposition members left the square in mid-June 2022, and opposition rallies were not held daily.

Pro-government MPs then called the opposition rallies a failure, noting that demands for the resignation of the prime minister were not supported by the Armenian population.

However, Manukyan thinks that every day the current government brings "new threats to the security of Armenia and the Armenians of Karabakh".

"Sometimes we are told that we did not succeed, in fact, our people, rather than we, did not succeed," the representative of the opposition parliamentary faction emphasised.

While commenting on the opposition's decision to resume rallies, pro-government MP Hrachya Hakobyan called it ridiculous.

"People think that their actions are comical. They take to the streets when the weather is favourable. When the weather gets hot enough in Yerevan, they start organising their holidays in various coastal countries, and then they return from vacation and announce that we will resume rallies again," he said.