YEREVAN -- Police in Armenia have detained dozens of opposition protesters in the capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over what they feel are concessions to Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Police said that more than 200 protesters were detained as they temporarily blocked several streets in Yerevan's center and other provincial cities on May 3, the second consecutive day a large number of protesters were held for protesting Pashinian's handling of the territorial dispute with its neighbor.
Opposition leader Ishkhan Saghatelian said: "Pashinian is a traitor, and permanent street protests, which are mounting, will force him to resign."
“The more people are detained, the greater the number of protesters. Yerevan has already taken to the streets,” Saghatelian said.
Police have opened at least one investigation into allegations by the opposition that violence was used against participants in the May 2 rally.
The protests started on May 1, when thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the capital's central France Square, calling on Pashinian to resign after he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed last month to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh and set up a joint commission on demarcating their common border during talks in Brussels.
SEE ALSO: Report Warns Of 'Fragile' Prospects For Postwar Nagorno-KarabakhBaku wants the peace deal to be based on five elements, including a mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity. Pashinian has publicly stated that the elements are acceptable to Yerevan in principle, fueling Armenian opposition claims that he is ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan regained control of parts of the breakaway region in the 2020 war, as well as seven adjacent districts that had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994.
Some 2,000 Russian troops have been deployed to monitor the current cease-fire.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been under ethnic Armenian control for nearly three decades, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.