Armenian police detain dozens of protesters opposing Azerbaijan land deal

Armenian police have said they had detained dozens of people attempting to block streets in the capital Yerevan as part of protests against government plans to concede land to Azerbaijan.

The interior ministry confirmed on Monday that a total of 151 people had been detained, up from 88 reported earlier. It said in an earlier statement said that protesters had been unable to close off any streets in Yerevan.

Armenia has agreed to hand over territory it has occupied since the 1990s and has started border delimitation efforts, in a bid to secure an peace deal with Baku and avoid another bloody conflict.

The territorial concessions have sparked weeks of protests by people who have blocked major roads, in an attempt to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to change course.

Protest leader Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan has urged opponents of the deal to flood the streets of Yerevan on Monday in a fresh show of opposition to the deal.

Reporters said hundreds of people had joined the demonstration.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the south Caucasus, have been locked in a stand-off over disputed territory, primarily Karabakh, since the break-up of the Soviet Union.