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Police carry out mass arrests in downtown Yerevan

The demonstrators demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the events in Nagorno-Karabakh

YEREVAN, September 22. /TASS/. Several dozen Armenian Interior Ministry officers have detained protesters in the center of Yerevan, a TASS correspondent reported.

The arrests took place at the intersection of Amiryan Street and Mashtots Avenue. The law enforcers detained more than ten demonstrators who went from Republic Square to block the central streets. Some of the demonstrators went further into the streets of the capital.

At the moment, the law enforcers are on Mashtots Avenue, the situation is calm. Part of the demonstrators remain in Republic Square near the government building. They demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the events in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression." Residents of the Armenian capital took to the streets to protest outside the Armenian government building, blaming the country’s leadership and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the situation.

Russia called on the conflicting sides to prevent civilian casualties and return to a diplomatic solution. On September 20, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced that an agreement had been reached in coordination with the Russian peacekeeping contingent to suspend the anti-terrorist operation in Nagorno-Karabakh as of 12:00 p.m. Moscow time. On September 21, representatives of Baku and the Armenian population of Karabakh met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh "to discuss reintegration issues."