Armenia Mourns As Political Unrest Spreads

Armenian flags and candles cover Yerevan's Yerablur military cemetery on December 18. The photo was taken on the eve of three days of national mourning for those who died fighting Azerbaijani forces in and around Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A march through central Yerevan on December 19 as mourning officially began

A black-clad crowd masses at Yerevan's Yerablur military cemetery on December 19. Nearly 3,000 Armenians were killed in the conflict out of a population of 3 million. 

 

Men mourn a loved one at Yerablur cemetery on December 19. 

A woman cries at the Yerablur cemetery on December 19. 

Bodyguards screen Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian with ballistic shields as he enters Yerablur cemetery on December 19. Pashinian faced anger from many in the grieving crowds who shouted, "Nikol, you traitor!" 

Amidst scuffles, the Armenian prime minister pays his respects at the military cemetery. Many Armenians are angered by Pashinian's handling of the conflict and shock announcement of a peace treaty that ceded swaths of land formerly controlled by ethnic Armenian forces back to Azerbaijan. 

Armenian police stand guard as Pashinian pays his respects at the military cemetery on December 19. 

A woman at the grave of a young soldier at Yerablur cemetery on December 19

Men in military uniform at Yerablur cemetery on December 19 at the grave of a volunteer who died in the conflict

Women weep during a church service held in Yerevan on December 19. 

Armenian President Armen Sarkisian at Yerablur cemetery on December 20. Sarkisian has called for early parliamentary elections in response to widespread anger at the government's handling of the conflict and the resulting peace deal. 

Pashinian (center) walks through Sisian in the Syunik region. The December 21 visit turned into a public-relations disaster for the embattled prime minister as crowds blocked his motorcade and he was forced to travel by helicopter to the southern Armenian town.

Pashinian lights a candle inside a church in a military cemetery in Sisian on December 21. The Armenian prime minister was openly snubbed by a priest who refused to shake his hand and appeared to usher him out of the Sisian church.