Organiser of event causing large protests in Tbilisi resigns as MP
Tweet 
Share
Zakaria Kutsnashvili, the organiser of the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, which led to large-scale public protests last night has resigned as MP.
He has thanked those who voted for him earlier and offered his apologies as well.
'I hold no post but an MP's free mandate. I am ready to quit as MP,” he said.
People protesting Russian MPs' visit to Georgia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
The 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy which was to be held for the first time in Georgia was interrupted yesterday due to Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov’s appearance in the seat of the Parliamentary Speaker.
The Russian MP’s action was followed by severe protests from the public and opposition MPs and ended with police dispersing protestors.
The Russian delegation left Georgia shortly after the session was interrupted. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry said ‘Georgian radicals seized the building’ and MPs were forced to leave.
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 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.
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.
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.
Russian officials on Friday called for boycott of tourism and trade relations with Georgia following what President Putin's administration called a "Russophobic provocation" in Tbilisi clashes the previous day.
The official Kremlin response decried the events as a "dangerous display", while the State Duma's Tourism Committee head called for boycott of Georgian tourist resorts and trade goods, among reactions.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani have held a meeting with foreign ambassadors this evening. The foreign diplomats have urged political parties to rule out violence.
The Georgian Ministry of Health has denied death of one person who got injured on June 20 when Georgian police dispersed protest rally on Rustaveli Ave. Russian media outlets, namely Euronews Russia, Lenta.ru, REN.TV and others have reported that one of the protestors, injured in eye, died in a hospital.