Opposition rally: Nikol Pashinyan back to protest site after hospitalization

17:31

Nikol Pashinyan has returned to the protest site after receiving the first medical aid at the Nairi Medical Center.

Eighteen more protesters had been earlier taken to the St Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center with different bodily damages, hospital sources told our correspondent.

One of them, Alen Simonyan, is said to have sustained a fragmentary fracture.

                                                                                                                                                

15:39

Nikol Pashinyan has been hospitalized in the wake of clashes.

He was moved from Baghramyan Avenue in a police vehicle, our correspondent reports from the protest scene. The crowd had headed to the central avenue to boycott the National Assembly’s session discussing Serzh Sargsyan’s nomination for Prime Minister.

The opposition MP is said to have been wounded in the arms and on the face. Before hospitalization, he announced a desire to meet with the people late in the evening.

There are wounded people also among the demonstrators, but no ambulance has yet approached any of them. One of the protesters fainted on the scene. The clashes have stopped at the moment.

13:22

The demonstrators have returned to France Square. 

Addressing the crowd, Nikol Pashinyan said that many students, who had joined the rally, are now in hospital.

11:55

The crowd, led by Nikol Pashinyan, broke into the State Pedagogical University, chanting slogans.

Pashinyan raised a call for a student strike as they reached the building in Yerevan’s Khanjyan street.

“Dear compatriots, the time for victory has arrived. It is the moment of your victory. We call upon all of you to go out,” he said.

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Opposition activists have blocked the Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan in a public protest boycotting the ruling Republican Party’s decision to nominate Serzh Sargsyan for the prime minister of Armenia.

The transportation in the central streets is paralyzed amid protest actions continuing also on central bridges and at metro stations.

The protest was initiated by Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition MP from the political block Yelk, who started his campaign with a 14-day march from the second largest city of Gyumri to Yerevan (accompanied by a team of supporters).

On Friday and Saturday,  he rallied big crowds in France Square to announce his team’s “plan of actions”.

The Republican’s Executive Body and Council nominated Serzh Sargsyan for prime minister at a session held in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor (Kotayk region) on Saturday.

The third president’s candidacy will be officially submitted to the National Assemly later on Monday.

The parliament is to debate the issue at its session on Tuesday, April 17.