12 civic activists detained at ruling party central office
Civic activists gathered at the central office of the Georgian dream earlier today ahead of the party political council meeting to protest the arrival of a Russian journalist on March 31. Photo: IPN.
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Twenty individuals have been detained at the central office of the ruling Georgian Dream party earlier today in Tbilisi where civic activists were protesting the arrival of Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner on March 31.
The activists said that the administrative detention came after the arrival of Vice-Parliament Speaker Gia Volski ‘who insulted us with his gestures.’
The demonstrators shouted ‘slaves’ at the ruling party MPs and accused them of allowing the ‘Russian propagandists’ into the country.
The activists held posters ‘the Russian Dream’ and ‘Abkhazia is Georgia.’
Pozner, who had stated that Abkhazia (Georgia’s Russian-occupied region) will never be Georgia’, left Tbilisi with his 40 guests earlier on April 1 instead of April 3 with a charter flight due to the protests of civic activists and the opposition.
He arrived in Georgia to celebrate his 78th birthday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the form of protest against a well-known Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner, who arrived in Tbilisi yesterday, was ‘unacceptable and uncivilised’ and that the ‘radical United National Movement opposition party’ stood behind the process.
Well-known Russian Journalist Vladimir Pozner, who had stated that Abkhazia (Georgia’s Russian-occupied region) will never be Georgia’, has left Tbilisi with his guests earlier today due to protests. Pozner, who arrived in Tbilisi late yesterday with 40 other individuals to celebrate his 87th birthday, was also fined for violation of isolation and quarantine rules. 31 of 40 of his guests also faced the same fine.
Georgian civil activists are holding a demonstration close to Vinotel Boutique Hotel where Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner and his friends have gathered on the eve of his birthday.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov, whose taking the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker in June 2019 sparked large protests in the Georgian capital, has called Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili’s recent statement ‘a serious signal’ for improvements in Russia-Georgia relations.