US Embassy calls for "restraint" amid protests outside Tbilisi parliament
A view of ongoing protests outside the Parliament of Georgia, where protesters have clashed with police. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
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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.
With demonstrators confronting the police throughout the night before being dispersed with tear gas, with injuries reported on both sides.
The US embassy released an announcement late in the night concerning the tense circumstances outside the Parliament of Georgia.
We are following very closely events at the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi this evening."
We recognise the hurt that many people feel today. We urge all sides to remain calm, show restraint, and act within the framework of the Constitution at all times," the comments from the embassy said.
The clashes followed demonstrations earlier in the day, when political opposition and citizen activists gathered outside the lawmaking body to protest the appearance of Russian Duma MP Sergey Gavrilov at the speaker's tribune of the parliament.
The appearance was disrupted by opposition MPs before political leaders of the opposition parties joined activists outside the parliament to demand repercussions from the government for the incident.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The police had a legitimate right to use force at the June 20-21 rally dispersal, but it remains to be seen how proportionate the force used was and whether the force or weapons used by the police were lawful, says Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria.