Galstanian resumed street protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on October 2. He held two rallies in Yerevan, attracting fewer people than he did in May and June. Also, a few hundred people led by the outspoken cleric picketed Armenian prosecutors’ headquarters on October 9 to demand criminal charges against Pashinian.
A similar crowd of his supporters rallied outside the presidential palace in Yerevan on Friday to condemn President Vahagn Khachturian for validating a controversial Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement on border delimitation signed on August 30. They already picketed the Constitutional Court building on October 6 after it gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the agreement.
Speaking to journalists there, Galstanian dismissed skeptics’ arguments that these actions are overdue because they are directed against accomplished facts. “Let those who are preoccupied with this subject take actions by themselves earlier,” he said.
Galstanian insisted that the protest movement will achieve its main goal. But he did not reveal the dates or other details of his next steps. It thus remained unclear whether more rallies will be held in the coming days or weeks.
Another clergyman critical of the Armenian, government, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian, predicted on October 4 that the renewed protests are unlikely to force Pashinian to resign. Ajapahian said Galstanian has made a number of mistakes during his campaign sparked by Pashinian’s territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.