{"id":2993,"date":"2020-12-19T05:27:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T05:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=141273"},"modified":"2020-12-19T05:27:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T05:27:06","slug":"pashinian-leads-armenians-in-procession-to-mourn-deaths-in-recent-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/19\/pashinian-leads-armenians-in-procession-to-mourn-deaths-in-recent-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Pashinian Leads Armenians In Procession To Mourn Deaths In Recent Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"
Armenians on December 19 began three days of mourning for those who died in six weeks of fierce fighting against Azerbaijani forces in and around Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n
Masked against the coronavirus and surrounded by security, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian joined a crowd of thousands in downtown Yerevan shortly after 1 p.m. local time for a procession to honor the dead in the September-November escalation.<\/p>\n
Pashinian said the march would follow a route, familiar to many Armenians<\/a><\/strong> who have grown up in the shadow of a “frozen conflict,” from Republic Square to the Erablur Military Pantheon.<\/p>\n Occasional bursts of “Nikol! Nikol!” broke out, but a somber mood was mostly observed as the prime minister’s black-suited contingent took up a place at the head of the crowd.<\/p>\n A live feed of the event appeared to show many thousands of marchers.<\/p>\n Pashinian has been under political fire since agreeing to a Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan that took effect on November 10, ending the fighting.<\/p>\n