They said the protest movement will be led by a “national committee” that will comprise at least five prominent opposition figures, including senior members of the Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances and veteran politician Vazgen Manukian.
“We are stating mass disobedience actions,” Manukian told thousands of people who gathered in the city’s central Republic Square for the third consecutive day.
“Our first objective is to bring this government to its knees, to make clear that they are dead as a government,” he said, adding that they will use “legitimate” methods of achieving that.
Manukian urged opposition supporters to again gather in the sprawling square and surround the adjacent government building there on Friday morning to try to disrupt a weekly session of Pashinian’s cabinet.
Another member of the committee, Andranik Tevanian, said opposition supporters must demonstrate “until we achieve Nikol Pashinian’s removal from power.” He called for a nationwide strike and boycott of university classes.
Led by the organizers, the crowd then split into several groups and marched in various directions, blocking streets in the city center. Riot police used force to unblock those streets later in the evening.
Many of the protesters then again converged on Republic Square. Scuffles broke out there between them and security forces guarding the prime minister’s office. The police made dozens of arrests .
The police and angry protesters, among them many refugees from Karabakh, already clashed outside the government building on Wednesday and Tuesday. The protesters condemned Yerevan’s failure to intervene in the fighting in Karabakh and demanding Pashinian’s resignation.
The Armenian premier again defended his cautious stance on Thursday, saying that Armenia must avoid another war in Azerbaijan. In another video address to the nation, Pashinian reiterated that he played no part in Wednesday’s ceasefire deal that paved the way for the restoration of full Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.
Opposition leaders say that Pashinian precipitated the latest Azerbaijani offensive by recognizing Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and making other concessions to Baku.