In pictures:
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament

Protests erupted around and inside the building of the Parliament of Georgia in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP appeared in the seat of the lawmaking body's chairman to deliver an address. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 20 Jun 2019 - 21:10, Tbilisi,Georgia

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.

Leading personalities of the opposition and public figures were part of the crowd that demonstrated outside the parliament as events unfolded in the follow-up of the incident where MP Sergey Gavrilov was confronted during his speech at the lawmaking body.

Opposition MPs in the Georgian parliament protested the Russian lawmaker's address from the seat based on his supposed participation against Georgia in the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia and Russian military's ongoing occupation of Georgia's Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.

The protesters outside the parliament later blocked the main avenue of the capital and demanded repercussions for government members and the ruling party, demanding resignation of Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia, among other officials.

Initial protests are launched outside the Parliament of Georgia in the wake of the incident involving an appearance of Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov in the seat of the chairman of the Georgian lawmaking body in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Protesters gather in the Sir Oliver Wardrop Garden outside the parliament venue to voice their discontent with the incident. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Leading opposition figure Giga Bokeria (in suit) seen at the protest as reporters interview arriving politicians. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Security and police crews were mobilised outside the parliament's entrance as protesters with banners bearing messages on Russian troops' ongoing occupation of two Georgian regions demanded answers for the incident in the venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

People in the parliament building view the protesters gathered outside. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

The protests blocked roads around the parliament building and later spread to the space in front of the venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

An activist protesting outside an entrance to the parliament using a piece of barbed wire - symbolising the demarcation lines set up by Russian occupying forces between the Georgian-controlled territory and the country's regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) since the 2008 war between the two countries. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

The events continued inside the parliament building, with protesters displaying banners in relation to the Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov's appearance in the Georgian parliament. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Citizens display a banner featuring Russian president Vladimir Putin during the protest inside the parliament venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Protesters photographed outside the parliament building on Thursday. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Police look on as political personalities and citizens gather outside the parliament building in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.