On 11 May, following the brawl incident in the Armenian parliament from 8 May, the opposition Bright Armenia party (LHK) condemned the speech given by Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan saying that he thereby “justified, legitimized and encouraged” violence against his political opponents, reported the Armenian Radio Free Europe.
“The incident showed that it took the revolutionary prime minister only two years to completely dismantle and demolish the ideas, values and principles declared by that revolution,” the statement read. “What is more, My Step members portray all of their opponents and critics as enemies of the state and the people and anti-state elements who can be legitimately assaulted,” added the LHK statement, adding that this “totalitarian mindset” could eventually lead to authoritarian rule in Armenia.
“Today, the parliamentarians of the halls of power who crush heads, cut throats, and hit from behind will continue to use the country's number-one pulpit and threaten us from behind with weapons and armor. The violence used in parliament will continue to go uncondemned, and those who used it—unpunished,” wrote on Facebook the LHK leader Edmon Marukyan.
On 8 May, Pashinyan accused Marukyan of being an integral part of a scheme designed by former ruling regimes to sustain moral, psychological and physical damages to his administration. He dubbed Marukyan as a 'provocateur', blaming him for a brawl that occurred in the parliament. “For two years now, the revolutionary team, including the parliamentary majority and the government, have been subjected to moral and psychological violence. Women deputies are threatened with rape, their children are beaten in the streets and the most deceitful information about My Step parliamentarians is disseminated. All this pursues one goal - to weaken and destroy the political majority, as well as the trust between it and the public. What happened is a provocation. I also condemn the parliamentary majority that succumbed to the provocations” he said.
The brawl erupted on 8 May in the presence of Pashinyan and his ministers as Edmon Marukyan lambasted pro-government deputies for their angry reactions to opposition criticism of the government. Marukyan was heckled by some of those deputies affiliated with Pashinyan’s My Step bloc and shouted back at them during his speech. One of them, Sasun Mikaelyan, then punched him before other lawmakers from My Step and the Bright Armenia Party joined in the resulting fistfight or shoved and chased each other in the chamber. “The incident must have consequences, political consequences. What happened is not so much our problem as the revolution leader’s problem. We will now leave this auditorium and, depending on political evaluations and consequences, we will draw conclusions … and decide how we will be working in this parliament in the future,” said Marukyan shortly after the brawl.
Pashinyan and Marukyan were former political allies who used to co-head the Yelk bloc that was in opposition to Armenia’s former leadership. The bloc fell apart after Marukian and his party refused to join mass protests launched by Pashinyan in April 2018 against the former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan’s attempt to extend his decade-long rule. The LHK is one of the two opposition parties represented in the current Armenian parliament. It holds 17 seats in the 132-member parliament.
