The Number of Detainees in Protests in Armenia Exceeds 150

On Monday, the police in Armenia announced that dozens of individuals attempting to block the streets of Yerevan, the capital, had been detained. These individuals were protesting against the government's plans to transfer land to Azerbaijan. The Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed on Monday, May 13, that a total of 151 people had been arrested. In a previous statement, the ministry noted that the protesters had failed to block any streets in Yerevan. Armenia has agreed to transfer parts of land it has controlled since the 1990s to Azerbaijan and has begun border demarcation efforts. These actions are part of attempts to reach a peace agreement with Baku and avoid another bloody conflict. Earlier in May, coinciding with the announcement of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government agreed to return four more villages in the 'Kazakh' region to Azerbaijan. These four villages have been uninhabited for three decades but are strategically important, as the trade highway between Armenia and Georgia and the Russian gas export pipeline to Armenia are very close to these villages. These land transfers have sparked protests in Armenia for several weeks, with demonstrators blocking the main roads of the country. Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of these protests, has called on opponents of the agreement to gather in the streets of Yerevan on Monday to express their dissent. Galstanyan also announced that he would meet with various political forces and public figures, including unions of artists, writers, and intellectuals, to discuss current issues in the country. Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, and his political team, who hold a significant majority in the country's legislature, have rejected the resignation demands from the movement led by Galstanyan. Any successful impeachment action against the Prime Minister requires the support of at least 18 members from Pashinyan's pro-government faction in the parliament. According to Armenian law, any vote of no confidence in the current Prime Minister must be accompanied by the name of a prime ministerial candidate who can immediately replace him if the action is successful. Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the South Caucasus, have been embroiled in territorial disputes since the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.