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Several hundred protesters continue blocking Yerevan’s central street

They sing patriotic songs and construct barricades from trash bins and benches

© Vahram Baghdasaryan/Photolure/TASS

YEREVAN, February 26. /TASS/. Several hundred supporters of Armenia’s Homeland Salvation Movement continue to block Yerevan’s central street near the parliament building, demanding resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

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"Today, we will make very important statements about our future actions," said Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) political party representative Gegham Manukyan.

The protesters sing patriotic songs and construct barricades from trash bins and benches. Every now and then, the activists start chanting anti-government slogans. The police is reinforced, but it won't try to disperse the protesters.

On February 25, the Armenian General Staff issued a statement, demanding resignation of the prime minister and the government. The statement was signed by Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, his deputies, as well as heads of departments and corps. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan qualified the demand as a coup attempt and announced a decision to fire the General Staff chief. The president, who has the constitutional power to appoint and fire the chief of the General Staff at the prime minister’s initiative, has not yet signed the papers. Mass rallies of both Pashinyan’s supporters and opponents began in Yerevan amid these events.

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