TBILISI (Reuters) - Armenian police detained 137 protesters who were blocking streets in Yerevan as part of a series of anti-government protests, Russia's TASS news agency cited the Interior Ministry as saying on Monday.

Protesters calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation have been gathering weekly in the Armenian capital since April.

The demonstrations, which are headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, began in opposition to Pashinyan's plan to hand over four deserted villages to longtime rival Azerbaijan.

Though the villages have since been handed over, the protests have grown into a broader call for Pashinyan, who has presided over a series of defeats to Azerbaijan, to resign from office.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)