Dozens Detained In Yerevan At Protest Calling For Pashinian's Resignation

YEREVAN -- Armenian police detained dozens of people in the capital, Yerevan, early on May 27 as demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian resumed their anti-government protests over a border demarcation deal with Azerbaijan.

Members and supporters of the Tavush For The Homeland movement opposed to a recent controversial border deal blocked traffic in several streets in the center of Yerevan following a call by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the 53-year-old head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to ratchet up pressure on the government.

Police moved in and made arrests as they tried to unblock some of the streets. Interior Ministry spokesman Narek Sargsian told journalists that a total of 137 people were detained early on May 27.

Among the protesters were opposition lawmakers.

Hundreds Detained In Yerevan As Protests Continue Over Controversial Border Deal

Galstanian is also taking part in “civil disobedience” actions on May 27, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported.

The outspoken cleric, who has led anti-government protests in Armenia over the border deal, announced his intention on May 26 to challenge Pashinian for the premiership as he addressed tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered in central Yerevan.

SEE ALSO: As Land In Northern Armenia Ceded To Azerbaijan, Protests Spread In Yerevan

Galstanian said at the rally in Republic Square that he had asked Catholicos Karekin II to suspend his “spiritual service” so that he could challenge the prime minister.

SEE ALSO: Bagrat Galstanian: The Armenian Archbishop Taking On The Government

Rally participants cheered and applauded Galstanian as he said that he was ready to accept the “nomination” as a candidate for prime minister in the opposition’s possible impeachment bid against Pashinian.

Under Armenia’s constitution, at least one-third of lawmakers can initiate a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in parliament, provided they also name a candidate who will replace him or her.

Earlier, Hayastan and Pativ Unem -- opposition factions in parliament associated with the former presidents of Armenia, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian -- said they would support the bid.

They will need the support of the only nonaligned lawmaker to initiate the process, which, in order to succeed, will require a majority vote in the legislature dominated by Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.

Pashinian -- who remains largely popular with the population despite some dissatisfaction with recent events -- has rejected Galstanian’s resignation demand, and his allies in parliament so far have ruled out a break in ranks to support the protest leader’s possible bid to head the government.

The Armenian Constitution bars dual citizens from serving as prime minister, creating another obstacle for Galstanian, who is a dual citizen of Armenia and Canada.

He has said he would not violate the constitution but didn't explain how he would remedy the situation.

WATCH: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with residents in the village of Kirants on May 25 as part of his trip to several border communities involved in a controversial demarcation process that will see Azerbaijan regain control over the area.

Border Village Residents Challenge Armenian PM Over Demarcation With Azerbaijan

Both the United States and the European Union have hailed the border demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, stressing that the deal announced by the two bitter South Caucasus rivals in April contains a reference to the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, a document by which a dozen former Soviet countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, pledged to recognize each other’s territorial integrity within existing administrative borders.

In the process, which was formally completed on May 15, Baku regained control over four abandoned villages near the Armenian border that had been under Yerevan’s military control since the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the early 1990s.

Armenia and Azerbaijan announced on May 24 that their border guards were deployed at the sections where the demarcation was completed.

Azerbaijan retook the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a blitz offensive in September from ethnic Armenian forces who had controlled it for three decades.

The offensive forced more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region, leaving it nearly deserted.