14:07, 9 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. Parents of the servicemen who are missing in action in the 2020 Karabakh war and those who are still held captive by Azerbaijan are protesting outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Yerevan. The families demand a meeting with Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Chief of General Staff Lt. General Artak Davtyan.

Heavy police presence is in the area.

The demonstrators attempted to break into the building by breaching the front gate at the main entrance. Police officers removed the protesters and cordoned off the building.

National police chief Vahe Ghazaryan personally arrived to the scene to de-escalate the situation.

This latest demonstration began in the evening of April 8, when an aircraft which was supposed to return PoWs from Azerbaijan landed without them in Yerevan in what the government described as a “delay” of the repatriation related to Azerbaijan’s failure to implement the terms of the armistice.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan