YEREVAN, 25 December 2020, (TON): Police in the Armenian capital detained dozens of people on Thursday during protests against the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is being pressured to resign over his peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

Police detained 77 people following clashes when thousands of protesters converged on center of the capital Yerevan and surrounded the heavily guarded government building. Pashinyan and other cabinet members were able to get into the building despite the unrest.

“Now our goal is that they don’t get out until Nikol Pashinyan resigns,” Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a leading member of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun party, said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan had earlier brokered a peace deal that saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas. The Russia-brokered agreement ended 44 days of fierce fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.