Members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Armenia, Garik Avetisyan and Gegham Manukyan began what they called an indefinite hunger strike as a sign of protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whose resignation they are demanding.
“Garik Avetisyan, one of our friends, has been on a hunger strike for over an hour, and I am joining him and declaring an indefinite hunger strike, Manukyan told reporters gathered at the foot of the Aram Manoukian stature in Yerevan on Monday.
“Over the past ten days, there have been many political protests. The public, political parties, academic circles and representatives of Yerevan State University are demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation. The Prime Minister signed a capitulation statement without consulting with anyone,” Gegham Manukyan stated, adding that the Prime Minister had the opportunity to sign a truce under better conditions in various stages of the war, but he did not take that step in order to retain his position.
“The Prime Minister sold a large part of our homeland to the enemy with his signature, and he has to resign as soon as possible. Unfortunately, over the past ten days, we have seen that he isn’t resigning and is ready to sacrifice everyone in his circle just to stay in power,” Manukyan stressed.
“I declare an INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE with one demand: [PM] Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation,” Manukyan wrote in a Facebook post.
When Manukyan walked over to the nearby government building, where he said he would stage his hunger strike, Yerevan police interfered and did not allow him to remain there.
Avetisyan said that he had resorted to such an extreme step to show the public at large that “human life has no value for the Armenian authorities and they are just clinging to their seats of power.”
