The protesters were detained as they blocked streets in the city center in the morning to step up the pressure on Pashinian. There were reports of similar blockages of highways outside the Armenian capital. The police used force to unblock them as well.
The chief of the national police, Aram Hovannisian, accused the protesters of “behaving like thugs” as he oversaw the crackdown in downtown Yerevan.
The Armenian Interior Ministry put the total number of detained protesters at 284 in the afternoon. A ministry spokesman said 278 of them have already been released without charge.
The detainees included two opposition lawmakers affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) party. Footage posted on social media showed members of a special police squad punching and swearing at one of them, Ashot Simonian, outside the Dashnaktsutyun headquarters.
In a statement, Dashnaktsutyun accused the policemen of acting like “street hooligans” and demanded criminal proceedings against them. The Interior Ministry said it has launched an internal inquiry into the incident.
Meanwhile, Galstanian again marched through the city center together with a hundred supporters. He announced afterwards that they will head to a World War One memorial 50 kilometers west of Yerevan to spend the night there and celebrate the next morning the 106th anniversary of the establishment of a short-lived independent Armenian republic.
Official ceremonies to mark the public holiday called Republic Day have traditionally been held at the Sardarapat memorial. It was not clear whether Galstanian planned to try prevent Pashinian and other top state officials from visiting the site on Tuesday.
The outspoken archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church announced the latest “disobedience” actions on Sunday as he again rallied tens of thousands of supporters in Yerevan as part of his opposition-backed attempts to oust Pashinian. The massive crowd backed his candidacy for the post of prime minister which appears to enjoy the backing of a wide range of opposition groups.
The 53-year-old archbishop accepted the “nomination,” saying that he has asked the supreme head of the church, Catholicos Garegin II, to “freeze my spiritual service.” Garegin’s office reported on Monday that Galstanian has been relieved of his “ecclesiastical and administrative” duties while retaining his episcopal rank.
Galstanian has until now headed the church diocese encompassing Armenia’s northern Tavush province. He emerged last month as the leader of angry protests in several local villages against Pashinian’s controversial decision to cede adjacent border areas to Azerbaijan.
Pashinian has claimed that the territorial concessions are necessary for preventing another war with Azerbaijan. His political foes and other critics dismiss the explanation, saying that the land handover will only create additional security risks for not only Tavush but Armenia as a whole.