Police arrest four as land protest blocks railway in western Georgia
Protesters blocked a major railway link between capital Tbilisi and the Black Sea city of Batumi before their arrest by police. Photo via on.ge.
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A court in Georgia's Black Sea province of Adjara has fined four citizens 2,000 GEL ($630/€530) after their arrest by police at a protest that blocked a major railway on Saturday.
The arrests were made as police arrived to clear the tracks in the village of Bobokvati, in the seaside municipality of Kobuleti, leading to physical confrontation between the group and the law enforcement.
Fined for disobeying the officers, the four individuals have said they reject the court decision, delivered soon after the arrest, and do not intend to pay the fine. They have also requested involvement from diplomatic corps in their case.
The action blocked the major railway link connecting capital Tbilisi to the seaside city of Batumi, however the participants said the protest had been peaceful.
They explained their grievances to be connected to coastline land tracts allegedly taken unlawfully from them by the United National Movement government in 2004.
The protesters said around 150 of them had inherited the coastline sections before the state took the lots to auction them off.
Georgian Manganese and locals in the village of Shukruti in western Georgia have reached an agreement on compensation for damage inflicted on their homes due to mining activity in the area. Georgian Manganese exports ferroalloys and manganese ore from mines near the village.
Locals of the Georgian village of Shukruti in the western Georgian region of Imereti, who demand Georgian Manganese compensate them for the damages, have gathered in front of the United States Embassy in Tbilisi to ‘make their voices heard’.
Workers of bottling factories at Borjomi mineral water plants in central Georgia who went on strike on May 18 demanding higher salaries and better working conditions have announced large-scale rallies in Borjomi if the company does not meet their demands.
Locals who have been protesting the construction of Namakhvani HPP for 168 days by Turkish company ENKA are now holding a rally in the village of Gumati, Imereti region after police dismantled their tents in the village of Namakhvani yesterday ‘due to possible threats of flooding.’
Residents of the village of Shkmeri in Oni municipality of Georgia have held a rally earlier today in protest of the issuance of licenses for manganese mining. The protesters claim that manganese mining, which involves digging up the territory, will pollute the air and damage the houses in Shkhmeri.