Confrontation erupts between police, civic activists at parliament
Rallies in Tbilisi were sparked after parliament rejected the ruling party-proposed election bill in mid-November. Photo: IPN.ge.
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Confrontation has erupted between police and the members of Shecvale (change) youth movement in front of the Georgian parliament building, in central Tbilisi, earlier today.
Demonstrators were trying to reach the parliament building and express their protest regarding the New Year attractions, which were placed at the scene instead of tents on December 31.
Police have detained Lasha Chkhartishvili, member of Labor Party for disobedience to law enforcers and hooliganism.
Demonstrators have also urged people not to bring their children to the attractions, holding the photos of the people who received injuries during the June 20 rally dispersal.
Rallies in Tbilisi were sparked after parliament rejected the ruling party-proposed election bill in mid-November.
The bill would have allowed for the early transition to a fully proportional system starting from 2020 instead of the scheduled 2024.
The opposition and civic activists are accusing the government of “deliberately rejecting” the bill.
Five of 10 individuals detained at parliament late yesterday have been released before a trial on January 6, while the trial of remaining five has been postponed.
Ten individuals, mostly civic activists, have been detained at parliament in Tbilisi late yesterday for disobedience to the police and hooliganism as police removed tents from the scene and set up New Year's attractions for children. A member of the civic movement Shame Giga Makarashvili says that Zuka Berdzenishvili, Beka Kokaia, Beka Basilaia and Romeo Parulava are among the detainees.
Opposition parties have stated that the new offer of the ruling Georgian Dream party on electing 100 MPs via the proportional and remaining 50 via majoritarian voting ‘not only for the 2020 elections,’ is ‘absolutely unacceptable and is another attempt to trick the people.”
About 30 opposition parties, who have offered the transfer to ‘an adapted version of the German electoral model’ for the 2020 parliamentary elections, say they will register the bill in parliament in the coming days and are requesting Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria send the bill to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for evaluations.