Interior Ministry calls on demonstrators to ‘immediately stop violence’

The demonstrators have tried to break the police cordon in front of the parliamenf of Georgia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Agenda.ge, 20 Jun 2019 - 22:38, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Georgian Interior Ministry has released a statement calling the demonstrators to “immediately stop violence" in front of the parliament of Georgia and “leave the territory”.

The announcement followed soon after the Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia went to the parliament, calling on the protesters to obey the police.

Gakharia said today's developments are "tragic", but everyone will respond strictly according to the law "for an attack or a call for an attack on the state institutions". 

Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

The demonstrators have reportedly decided to break the police cordon following the opposition United National Movement MP Nika Melia’s address.

Melia told the audience that if a Russian MP could take a seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, then the Georgian people could also enter the building of the parliament.

Today’s incident in the Parliament of Georgia has triggered a wide public outrage after a Russian State Duma MP Sergei Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze to address the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.