Armenia PM storms out of talks with opposition leader

YEREVAN: Armenia’s political turmoil deepened on Sunday as Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian stormed out of talks with opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who was later forcibly removed from a protest.

“Despite repeated calls to stop illegal rallies, Pashinyan continued leading a demonstration” in the capital, police said in a statement, adding that he and two other opposition MPs “were forcibly taken from the site” as riot police dispersed the rally.

An opposition MP Sasun Mikaelyan earlier told journalists that Pashinyan was arrested.“People must liberate Nikol,” he said.As an MP, Pashinyan is protected by parliamentary immunity and cannot be arrested without the approval of lawmakers, in accordance with the Armenian constitution.

Riot police using stun grenades clashed with demonstrators at the march led by Pashinyan in Yerevan’s Erebuni suburb.It came shortly after Sarkisian walked out of talks with the protest leader, the figurehead of mass rallies over the past 10 days to denounce Sarkisian’s shift to the post of prime minister after a decade serving as president.

Opposition supporters have criticised the 63-year-old leader over poverty, corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs.The televised meeting between the Sarkisian and Pashinyan lasted only a couple of minutes before the premier walked out, accusing the opposition of “blackmail”.

“I came here to discuss your resignation,” Pashinyan, the leader of the opposition Civil Contract party, had told the prime minister before the cameras.“This is not a dialogue, this is blackmail, I only can advise you to return to a legal framework... otherwise you will bear the responsibility” for the consequences, replied Sarkisian, a former military officer. “You don’t understand the situation in Armenia. The power is now in people’s hands,” said Pashinyan.