Ishkhan Saghatelian, the main speaker at the anti-government protests, insisted that they are not dying down and are on the contrary gaining momentum.
Armenia’s main opposition groups represented in the parliament have rallied thousands of supporters on a virtually daily basis since setting up a tent camp in a central Yerevan square on May 1. They accuse Pashinian of renouncing Armenian control of Nagorno-Karabakh and making other concessions to Azerbaijan that will jeopardize the very existence of Armenia.
Pashinian and his political allies dismiss the demands for his resignation. They say that the opposition has failed to attract popular support for its “civil disobedience” campaign.
“The main question preoccupying our fellow citizens is how we are going to achieve regime change,” Saghatelian told reporters. “There is only way to achieve this … The disobedience actions, the protests must reach a scale that will make it impossible for the current authorities to cling to power through the use of brute police force.”
“It’s now time to increase the number of tents,” he said. “A deep disappointment awaits all those who have prepared texts to play the blame game in case the movement doesn’t succeed.”
As part of their campaign, the opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs drafted last week a parliamentary resolution rejecting any peace accord that would restore Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The pro-government majority in the Armenian parliament mas made clear that it will boycott and thus thwart an emergency debate on the draft resolution slated for Friday afternoon. It has accused the opposition of exploiting the Karabakh conflict for political purposes.
Saghatelian said that he and other opposition lawmakers will go to the National Assembly on Friday despite the announced boycott.
In a Facebook post, Saghatelian urged opposition supporters to gather at Yerevan’s France Square, the site of the protest camp, in time for the scheduled parliament session. He said the protest leaders “will decide our next actions depending on processes that will take place in the parliament.”
“Dear compatriots, this is a battle of nerves,” he wrote. “We are now obliged to stay strong and continue the process of dismantling these authorities.”