President Zurabishvili calls for calm, denounces "anti-state actions" during Tbilisi protests
Protesters have continuously clashed with police outside the parliament building in Tbilisi throughout the night. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
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President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has called for "calm" amid unrest in Tbilisi as protesting crowds have been dispersed by police using tear gas in front of the parliament building.
Zurabishvili reiterated her position that allowing Russian Duma MP Sergey Gavrilov to speak from the tribune at the Georgian parliament earlier today was a "major crime", however she criticised calls for unrest during the still unfolding events of the evening and late night.
[The indicent with MP Gavrilov] was an insult to the country and its honour, however this cannot excuse the artificially instigated wave [of protests], anti-state actions [and] calls from inside or outside (the country] aimed at storming the parliament and causing a coup," Zurabishvili said in a late night reaction to the violent events.
Georgia's president also said the confrontation and a "division of the society" served the interests of Russia, accusing those instigating clashes in "deliberately or inadvertently carrying out the policy and plans of Russia."
Zurabishvili's comments said it was "time for the state to react to all violations, establish order and prevent destructive forces from accomplishing the plans of Russia."
Protesters have been continuously clashing with police outside the parliament building throughout the evening and late night in Tbilisi, with injuries reported on both sides.
The clashes followed demonstrations earlier in the day, when political opposition and citizen activists gathered outside the lawmaking venue to protest the appearance of Gavrilov at its tribune, on the backdrop of ongoing occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) - Georgia's two regions - by Russian troops.
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.
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Political opposition and part of the public erupted in protest in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP took a seat of the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia for an address to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the capital.
The police Special Forces are trying to prevent the protesters from entering the building of the Georgian parliament in central Tbilisi. The Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia who went to the parliament said this is an attempt "to storm the state institutions" and called on the demonstrators to obey the police.
Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted to today’s incident in the Georgian parliament, when Russian MPs were forced to leave the building where they were attending the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Konstantinidi says the Foreign Ministry agrees with the ‘fair’ public protest regarding the Russian MPs’ visit to Georgia. He stated the Foreign Ministry permanently raises the issue of the occupation of two of the country’s regions as this is the key priority for the agency.
Russian MPs who participated in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held in the Georgian parliament earlier today are leaving Georgia after an incident took place when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, Tbilisi Mayor, Secretary General of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze says.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov has claimed "radicals" in the Parliament of Georgia doused him in water and attempted to forcefully take his papers in an incident at the lawmaking body in Tbilisi on Thursday.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that it was very difficult for him to see a Russian MP speak from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary chair. He says that the fact “affects national interests and the Georgian parliament.”
Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who is currently paying a visit to Georgia to attend the interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy, has denied occupation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia. Has also called for the return of the Soviet Union, and for the countries of the former USSR to be reunited.
Georgian opposition MPs have interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
The United States Embassy in Georgia has offered its reactions to the developments in Tbilisi where protesters repeatedly clashed with police, saying the diplomatic mission closely followed the events and urged for calm.
The protesters are leaving the demonstration in front of the parliament of Georgia in central Tbilisi as the law enforcers have used tear gas and rubber bullets. The number of injured is not officially announced yet, but Georgian media reports a dozen of people have been damaged.
The Healthcare Ministry has reported that 17 civilians and 38 police officers have been injured after in a late night clash in front of the parliament of Georgia as law enforcers used tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent the protesters from entering the building. The protesters were leaving the demonstration after the clash but soon they returned and continued rallying.
The Georgian media reported that the number of journalists, cameramen and photographers representing a number of local news organisations is increasing after the recent clash in central Tbilisi.
Police used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse rally on Rusteveli Avenue. Police Special Forces have marched on the Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi where the demonstrators had gathered to protest June 20 incident in the parliament of Georgia.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov, whose address in the Georgian parliament sparked demonstrations in Tbilisi yesterday, says that the unrest was beforehand planned “by radical Georgian opposition forces,” who used the presence of Russian MPs in the parliament building as a reason to start anti-government rallies.
The United National Movement opposition party says that a demonstration on Rustaveli Avenue will be held at 7 p.m. today as the current Georgian Dream state leadership “has turned into a regime,” and the Georgian people “no longer want their leadership.” The opposition has three demands regarding top officials and elections.