In Vanadzor, Nikol Pashinyan's rally gathers more than 5000 people

In Vanadzor, participants of an opposition rally led by protest leader Nikol Pashinyan demanded to remove the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) from power.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has called on all the delegates of the RPA faction to hold direct talks at a rally in his native city of Ijevan. After the rally, Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters left for Vanadzor, the third largest city in Armenia.

Prior to the rally, the police blocked all the entrances to Hayk Square, and residents of Vanadzor had to go by foot from different areas to the place of the protest action. Despite the rain, even before the rally began, a large number of people gathered in the square. According to the police estimates, the protest action gathered more than 5000 people. The participants chanted "Nikol is Prime Minister!", the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The rallies in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor differ only in number of protestors, while their demands and the atmosphere on the actions in different cities are the same, believes Lene Wetteland, an adviser of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

"All the rallies are very similar to each other, and they have gathered a lot of people for their cities. The rallies are very calm, and they take place without incidents and aggression. The atmosphere is generally friendly and pleasant," Lene Wetteland told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the adviser of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Nikol Pashinyan has already become a people's hero in Armenia: people in different cities and villages of Armenia wait for him and they greet him very warmly.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.