Armenian protest calls for PM resignation over village handover to Azerbaijan

Tens of thousands of demonstrators held a protest Sunday in the center of the capital of Armenia, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after Armenia agreed to hand over control of several border villages to Azerbaijan.

The demonstration was the latest in a weekslong series of gatherings led by a high-ranking cleric in the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bagrat Galstanyan, archbishop of the Tavush diocese in Armenia's northeast. 

Armenian opposition movement leader Bagrat Galsanyan, who has been proclaimed as a candidate for prime minister, said he plans to go to the governmental summer cottages after the opposition rally in Yerevan to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

"I invite [Pashinyan]: come to speak with these people not only as a politician but also as a man. If you don’t come, you will have no moral legitimacy. From this square, I will go to the governmental summer cottages to meet with you," he said during the rally.

He called on his supporters to begin peaceful actions of disobedience starting tomorrow if Pashinyan refuses to step down.