At least six protesters were detained during violent protests that erupted in front of the Georgian Parliament on Tuesday, following the first reading of a controversial law on detractors and the West’s “foreign agents”.undemocratic“.
Several hundred protesters equipped rocks, bottles and sticksHe tried to access the building located on Rustaveli Boulevard in Tbilisi.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, six people were arrested. The number of injured in clashes between police and protesters is unknown.
After hours of fighting, riot police He left the streets and settled in the inner courtyard of the Parliament, where his opponents threw a few motolov cocktails.
The protesters expressed screams Against Russian President Vladimir Putin, he accused deputies of the ruling Georgian Dream party of being “Putin’s slaves”.
“Sakartvelo!” (Georgia), cried the dissidents, holding Georgian and European Union (EU) flags. They also attacked the Ombudsman, Levan Ioseliani where they throw a few eggs.
At around 01:20 local time (21:20 GMT), riot police were once again deployed to Rustaveli Avenue and then demanded the opposition disperse or the police would take legal action. “restore sequence”.
Twenty minutes later, the police seemed to have brought the situation around Parliament back under control. several hundred competitors they refused to leave the surrounding area.
Among the protesters was Leván Jabeishvili, whose historic leader is the head of the main opposition United National Movement, the former president. Mikhail Saakashvili, he is in jail.
One of the opposition leaders Nikanor Meliaurged those present not to disperse and to follow the same path as those who participated in the protests in Kiev in 2014 that led to the overthrow of the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.
from the United States, the president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvilipublicly expressed his support for the protests.
“I’m speaking to you guys on Rustaveli Avenue. I’m in New York today and I have the Statue of Liberty in front of me. He’s a symbol of what Georgia has always fought for. I’m with you today for representing you. a free Georgia”, sure.
Speaking to television, he emphasized that there is no law.Prepared under the dictation of Moscow“, that is, “the project should be withdrawn”.
Despite criticism at home, in the United States, and in the European Union, 76 Georgian MPs Thirteen voted against it in support of the project on Tuesday.
Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, when logging out, the project is no longer Venice Commission, He said he would make his decision “in about three months”.
The US Embassy considered the parliamentary debate, in which even a brawl broke out in a semicircle, as a discussion. “Black day for democracy in Georgia”, and warned that the law would harm Tbilisi’s relationship with its partners and its Euro-Atlantic ambitions.
Georgian Prime Minister Iraqi Garibashvili from Berlin defended the law on the following grounds: “Georgia must do everything possible to strengthen its sovereignty” and urged “not to succumb to the irresponsible speculations of the opposition”.
Opponents see the project as reminiscent of the Kremlin’s law on foreign agents approved a decade ago, allowing the State to suppress criticism from the opposition, NGOs, media and other countries. human rights activists.