Security forces faced off with crowds Friday at the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the government sought to arrest a clergyman in the latest move against outspoken critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The tense confrontation in Etchmiadzin, outside the capital of Yerevan, ended with security forces withdrawing from the site without arresting Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan to avoid escalating the situation, Armenia's National Security Service said. The NSS asked him to turn himself it, and it was not immediately clear if he did so.
