Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses his supporters during a gathering in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia February 25, 2021.
The opposition gathered some 10,000 of its own supporters not far away, then began putting up tents and building barricades outside parliament as it vowed to hold round-the-clock demonstrations. Pashinyan said he was ready to start talks with the opposition, but also threatened to arrest any opponents who "go beyond political statements".
Initially prompted by the election of former president Serzh Sarksyan as prime minister, the protests quickly began targeting the government's perceived political cronyism. In December 2018, Pashinyan's My Step Alliance emphatically won snap parliamentary elections that confirmed his popularity. Days after Pashinyan took office, clashes between Armenian and Azeri troops erupted on Armenia's border with Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan. The clashes were short-lived, but Pashinyan's detractors criticised him for not having responded more aggressively.Pashinyan's political woes spiralled when he conceded defeat and agreed last November to a Russian-brokered ceasefire to end six weeks of fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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