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.
