Protesters gathered this afternoon in front of the seat of the Armenian government in the capital Yerevan, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who earlier today denounced those calling for a “coup” in his countryfollowing the military operations launched by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

Some protesters chanted:Nicole, you traitor!”, “Nicole, quit!” and “Artshah! Artsakh!” (s.b.: the name the Armenians give to Nagorno-Karabakh), noted an AFP journalist.

Faced with hundreds of protesters, the police closed the entrances to the government building.

The police cordon, which was the target of bottle-throwing, was tonight resisting a crowd of protesters trying to breach it to enter the building.

Police used stun grenades.

Protesters accuse Armenia’s prime minister of failing to defend Nagorno-Karabakh.

“It is not possible to have a leader who loses our territories,” shouted Gevorg Gevorgyan, a veteran of the two previous wars between Yerevan and Baku over Karabakh (in the 1990s and 2000s), from the crowd. “We want to show that the Armenian people will not abandon the residents of Artsakh,” the Armenian name for the region, he added to AFP.

“If the government does not protect its 120,000 compatriots (in Karabakh), then it is a traitor and must step down. Pashinyan has not stopped promising peace for three years and yet here we are, in a third war that has started,” said another protester, Avetik Salambian.