Because of the Russian MP, mass protests began in Georgia: there are victims

Police in Tbilisi used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration near the Georgian parliament, after the rally participants demanding the resignation of members of the government, tried to break into the courtyard of the parliament building.

Georgian Ministry of Health reported on 14 affected protesters and 38 police officers, writes with the BBC.

The Georgian First Channel reported that its employee was injured at the rally. According to the channel, the operator was wounded in the area of ​​the face.

Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze, who arrived at the parliament building, accused the opposition party United National Movement, founded by ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, of trying to take Georgia out of the legal framework.

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“In Georgia, any group of people has the right to express their protest. In this case, I want to repeat that this was a fair protest. But over the last two hours that we have been watching, this is violence, this is an attempt by an aggressive group, the National Movement, to take Georgia out of the legal framework that was created once and for all in this country,” Bakhtadze said.

Saakashvili himself appealed to the people of Georgia to take the situation into their own hands and not be afraid of reprisals.

“We must complete the liberation of Georgia through our peaceful struggle,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday evening special forces soldiers and special vehicles appeared in the courtyard of the parliament. The Georgian Interior Minister, Georgi Gakharia, who arrived at the scene, called on the rally participants to stop the illegal actions and violence.

“First of all, I call on every citizen who stands in the square and, perhaps, expresses a fair protest, to unequivocally obey the demands of the police. What is happening here is called an assault on state institutions,” he told reporters.

According to Gakharia, the unrest was organized by “certain political forces trying to plunge the country into disaster.” At the same time, he expressed his readiness to resign, as the protesters demand, “if there is such a need.”

On Thursday, opposition parties called on their supporters to come to the rally to protest against the participation of the Russian parliamentary delegation headed by State Duma Deputy Sergei Gavrilov in the 26-th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (MAP).

The opposition’s protest was caused by the fact that Gavrilov, at the opening session of the IAO, took the chair of the Georgian parliament. At the same time, the opposition accused the authorities and the chairman of the parliament of allowing it.

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Oppositionists demand the resignation of Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, Interior Minister Georgy Gakharia and the head of the State Security Service, Vakhtang Gomelauri, who, in their opinion, should be responsible for the incident.

Later, it was decided to end the work of the General Assembly early and leave the Russian delegation. She went to the hotel, and from there to Tbilisi airport, after which she left the territory of Georgia.

From what it all began

Gavrilov on Thursday opened the session of the General Assembly of the International Assembly of Orthodoxy (MAP), which was held for the first time in Georgia. The Russian deputy and president of the IAO opened the meeting sitting in the chair of the parliamentary speaker.

Opposition deputies from the “United National Movement” and “European Georgia” refused to participate in the session with the Russian delegates from the very beginning.

During the break, announced during the session on Thursday, they moved to the parliamentary rostrum, demanding the withdrawal of Russian deputies from the building of the country's legislative body.

“If the state does not protect our country from Russian occupants, then we will at least protect this hall. This event will not take place with the participation of Russian delegates, ”said Elena Khoshtariya, a deputy from“ European Georgia, ”from the rostrum.

According to the opposition, Gavrilov recognizes Abkhazia and South Ossetia, who have been occupied by Russia since 2008, are independent states and took part in hostilities against Georgia in Abkhazia, and the Georgian authorities should not have let him into the country.

Gavrilov himself says that he did not take part in the hostilities. At the same time, the Russian deputy earlier said in an interview with Rustavi-2 TV company that Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and it is necessary to build relations based on these realities.

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Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia in September 2008 after the August war and Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

Who is to blame

Indignation about what is happening in the Georgian parliament was expressed not only by oppositional deputies, but also by representatives of the ruling party and authorities.

“It is very difficult to see a deputy of the occupying country at the main rostrum of the highest legislative body of Georgia. This fact harms our idea of ​​freedom and harms Georgian parliamentarism. “I fully share the fair protest of Georgian society and appeal to the organizers to immediately explain to society the reasons for what happened and to react harshly to what happened,” said the statement of the country’s Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.

The chairman of the ruling party, Bidzin Ivanishvili, whom the critics of the authorities call the sole ruler of Georgia, in his statement called inadmissible the conduct of a forum in the Georgian parliament under the leadership of a representative of the occupant country.

“I have already talked with the chairman of parliament and expressed my tough position and, of course, my recommendation was to immediately interrupt the meeting,” Ivanishvili said.

Representatives of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party say they did not know that Gavrilov was supposed to open the meeting and believe that a mistake was made by the protocol service.

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