General Strike in Armenia: Most Highways Blocked

Yerevan / 02.05.18 / Turan: On May 2, the "total strike" announced by the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan started in Yerevan. He called for the initiation of civil disobedience actions after the National Assembly did not approve him as Prime Minister.

The road from Yerevan to the international airport Zvartnots is blocked. The security forces have not interfered in any way yet. According to Interfax, passengers get to the airport on foot. In hotels, guests were advised yesterday to leave until 7 a.m., if they were planning to get out of the city. As it turned out, it was not for nothing: through the roadblocks now only journalists are allowed to pass, and even that is not everywhere, BBC reports.

On Tuesday, the Parliament voted against the election of the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country's Prime Minister, despite mass demonstrations in his support. According to the Armenian Constitution, Pashinyan has a second attempt to pass approval in the Parliament. The new vote should be held on May 8. Then, if Pashinyan is not elected for the second time, the power will pass to the interim government headed by the acting Premier Karen Karapetyan. It will have to appoint new parliamentary elections.

After the Republican majority in the Parliament voted against the election of Nikol Pashinian to the post of Prime Minister of Armenia, the leader of the protest movement called on Armenian citizens to block the streets, the subway, the railway, the airport, interstate and interregional routes and "in general everything that can ever be blocked. " He also called for strikes in educational institutions, enterprises and state departments.

Nikol Pashinyan and a large group of his supporters started the procession to the city center of Yerevan on May 2. Speaking in a megaphone, Pashinyan called not to block the roads connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the roads along which the army is supplied. He also reiterated that his supporters should pass ambulances, vehicles of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and fire trucks.

Today, a number of subway stations have been blocked since morning. Citizens, including lawyers, blocked an entrance to one of the government buildings where ministries are located with their cars. In the morning a group of citizens blocked the road to the airport Zvartnots. The action caused a tense situation on the highway, where the police arrived. Meanwhile, actions of civil disobedience are taking place in other parts of Yerevan. Students have returned to the streets. -02D-