Civic activist says policeman broke his hand during a rally in Tbilisi
Civic activist Giga Makarashvili (L)says that a policeman broke his hand during a rally yesterday regarding Ninotsminda boarding school. Photo: civic movement Shame.
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Civic activist Giga Makarashvili says that a law enforcer broke his hand during a rally at the country’s Prosecutor’s Office yesterday.
Opposition representatives and civic activities were protesting the barring of inspectors into the Patriarchate's Ninotsminda boarding school and were demanding the state agencies ensure the conduct of monitoring there.
Nine civic activists were detained at the rally for disobedience to police, while five of the nine individuals were released the same day.
Makarashvili says that another civic activist Nika Parulava also suffered a hand injury.
The situation got tense at the scene yesterday when opposition leader Elene Khoshtaria decided to enter the building to speak about the issue of the boarding school with the prosecutor general.
Six children living in a boarding school run by the Georgian Patriarchate and which is suspected of inflicting physical and psychological violence on its wards say they would like to leave the institution ‘to live closer to Tbilisi’, the Agency for Social Care and Assistance for Victims of Trafficking said yesterday.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has stated that the country’s Prosecutor’s Office is investigating several cases of violence in the Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school where top clerics have not allowed inspectors to conduct mandatory monitoring.
Georgian civic activists and NGOs have plans to gather at the administration building of the government of Georgia at 6 p.m. today, on International Childrens’ Day, to protest the decision of the leadership of Ninotsminda boarding school in eastern Georgia not to allow inspectors, including the country’s ombudsperson, to carry out monitoring there.
Sixteen children have expressed the desire to leave the Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school, the Agency for State Care and Assistance for the Victims of Human Trafficking has reported. The state agency, which entered the boarding school earlier this week, said that six children have already been placed in a different facility amid allegations of violence in the school.