YEREVAN, February 25. /TASS/. Leader of Armenia’s oppositional Homeland Salvation Movement Vazgen Manukyan has called on his supporters to build barricades near the parliament building in the country’s capital of Yerevan and get ready for blocking parliament until lawmakers arrive to vote for the dismissal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

"We will now build barricades, entrances to the parliament building should be blocked, and no one will walk along the street until lawmakers come and vote to dismiss Pashinyan," Manukyan pointed out.

Protesters are building barricades from trash cans and benches and setting up tents in order to spend the night near the parliament building. Pashinyan, who said he had no intention to step down, is currently marching along the streets of Yerevan along with his supporters.

Earlier on Thursday, Armenia’s General Staff said in a statement that the Armed Forces demanded the resignation of the prime minister and the government and emphasized the need to refrain from using force. Pashinyan slammed the General Staff’s demand as a coup attempt and announced his decision to dismiss Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan. According to the Armenian Constitution, it is the country’s president that appoints and dismisses the General Staff’s chief. However, if the president refrains from upholding the prime minister’s decision, it will automatically take effect in 15 days. Meanwhile, the Armenian presidential administration said that the president had received Pashinyan’s proposal but had not signed it yet.