- FROM AFP NEWS
August 8, 2023
Armenian police on Tuesday detained a dozen protesters, mostly war veterans, in central Yerevan after they blocked a government building, demanding authorities take steps to unblock the Lachin corridor, shut down by neighbour and foe Azerbaijan.
The Lachin corridor is the sole road linking the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-Karabakh — over which Yerevan and Baku fought two wars — with Armenia.
Yerevan and international aid groups have warned that the humanitarian situation in the mountainous region is dire and deteriorating, with convoys of food and medicine barred from reaching the region.
The Armenian interior ministry said 14 people were detained for failing to comply with police orders, but said they will be released within hours.
Made up of mostly war veterans, the protesters demanded to be armed to unblock the corridor themselves and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
Some of them were detained when they tried to block the central Republic Square in Yerevan.
They also went to Kornidzor, a village on the border with Azerbaijan, where trucks with aid have been standing for days.
The Lachin corridor has been under a blockade since July 15.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last month told AFP that there was a risk of a new war with Azerbaijan and accused Baku of "genocide" in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Red Cross has called for a "humanitarian consensus" on the Lachin corridor.
The five-kilometre-wide Lachin corridor is policed by Russian peacekeepers to ensure free passage between Armenia and Karabakh.
https://www.barrons.com/news/armenian-protesters-demand-to-unblock-lachin-corridor-4e242a91