Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian announced plans to resume street protests next week with the goal of ousting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as he addressed a large gathering of supporters at a concert hall in Yerevan on Sunday.
Galstanian declared that his anti-government movement, initiated in response to Pashinyan’s territorial concessions to Azerbaijan, is entering an “intensive and consistent phase.”
“We must establish a new government based on merit and unity,” he told the crowd, which included key figures from Armenia’s main opposition groups.
He revealed that the next rally will be held in Yerevan’s Republic Square on October 2. However, he did not specify whether this will lead to the kind of daily protests that took place in May and June. He encouraged supporters to prepare for a “patient struggle” aimed at regime change.
The movement, backed by the opposition, began in April with protests in Armenia’s northern Tavush province, after Pashinyan agreed to cede four border areas to Azerbaijan. Galstanian, who was then leading the provincial diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, quickly rose to prominence as the leader of these demonstrations.
After the efforts to prevent the land transfer failed, Galstanian shifted the protests to Yerevan in early May, calling for Pashinyan’s resignation. These rallies drew tens of thousands of participants, with the most recent one held on June 17.
In May, Pashinyan suggested that foreign intelligence operatives were involved in the protests, though he did not provide specifics. Some of his political allies accused Galstanian of being a Russian agent, claims which the 53-year-old archbishop, who also holds Canadian citizenship, dismissed with humor.
Members of the ruling Civil Contract party expressed confidence last month that Galstanian’s renewed protests would not succeed in removing Pashinyan and his administration from power.
