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A group of people staged a protest outside the Armenian National Assembly building on Friday, demanding an opportunity to travel back to Russia.

The protesting citizens who came to Armenia from Russia a few months ago had to stay in the country due to the closure of state borders amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The parliament is today debating a bill that would allow the government to enforce a six-month quarantine once the state of emergency ends on September 11.

One of the protesters said they have no home in Armenia, as the families of most of them have remained in Russia.

“We are asking the authorized ministers to help us rejoin our families. I am a pensioner, how am I supposed to live here only on my pension? Now I am living on rent. We are people who have ended up on the edge of the abyss, being unable to take a step backward or forward,” the protester said, adding the pension received by her and her husband is not even enough to pay the rent.

She stressed there are people here who have left their wives or husbands in Russia for months and cannot join them. “Can families be separated because of coronavirus?" she said.

Another protester said he has been in Armenia for six months and cannot find a job. “There is no opportunity to live here. Let them do something to send us back,” he said.

The demonstrators clam they have been protesting since August 12, but have received no clear response from the government yet.

Bright Armenia faction head Edmon Marukyan stepped out to meet with the protesters. He said it is a two-sided issue as Armenians in Russia also do not have an opportunity to return home by their cars. The MP said the borders will remain closed as the state of emergency will be followed by a period of quarantine in Armenia.

Marukyan added they will continue to take efforts to resolve the problem.