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| Demonstrators block the entrance of the Armenian government building during a protest after parliament voted to allow former president Serzh Sargsyan to become prime minister, in Yerevan, on April 19, 2018. |
Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan rejected on Sunday opposition demands to step down, as protests against the former presidentโs appointment as premier extended to a 10th day.
Protesters accuse Sarksyan of clinging to power after he was appointed premier this month following 10 years as president. Tens of thousands of opponents have marched through Yerevan, blocking streets in the city centre and staging sit-ins.
Under a revised constitution approved in a 2015 referendum, most state powers in the small, ex-Soviet state have shifted to the prime minister while the presidency has become a largely ceremonial post.
Sarksyan met the opposition lawmaker leading the protests, Nikol Pashinyan, in Yerevan on Sunday but left talks a few minutes after they began.
โThis is not talks, not a dialogue, itโs just an ultimatum, blackmail of the state, of the legitimate authorities,โ Sarksyan told Pashinyan.
He said the opposition โdid not learn the lesson of March 1โ, referring to a protest rally after his re-election in 2008 when 10 people were killed in clashes with police.
Parliament voted on Tuesday to allow Sarksyan to become premier.
โNo one has dared and will dare speak to us in the language of threats. I am telling you: you have no understanding of the situation in the country. The situation is different to the one you knew 15-20 days ago,โ Pashinyan told Sarksyan on Sunday.
โThe situation in Armenia has changed, you donโt have the power of which you are told. In Armenia, the power has passed to the people,โ he said.
