YSU students cease protests in solidarity with hospitalized rector

The Restart initiative demanding the resignation of Yerevan State University (YSU) Rector Aram Simonyan has announced a decision to stop student protests to show solidarity with the hospitalized rector, student activist David Petrosyan said in a post on Facebook.

“We wish the YSU Rector Aram Simonyan health and cease the protest actions in solidarity with him,” he said.

Rector Simonyan was hospitalized at Nork Marash Medical Center after falling ill on Tuesday. He is currently in stable condition, the hospital told Panorama.am.

He felt sick following the meeting with the Restart initiative members demanding his dismissal, which failed to give any results. Simonyan announced he would not ‘make any concession’ amid pressure, as the students sat in front of the doors of meeting room, barring him from leaving the university for a while.

The YSU students boycotted classes on Tuesday morning and marched through the Yerevan streets demanding the rector’s resignation, citing the ‘financial abuses and corruption schemes’ in the university. They also claim the university is politicalized.