Deputy Interior Minister says 63 detained, 6 officers injured during transparency bill protests

Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze on Wednesday said law enforcement officers had arrested 63 individuals during public protests over the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Darakhvelidze said arrests had been made for “petty hooliganism and disobedience of legal request of the police”, adding the participants of the rally had “physically and verbally assaulted officers, threw various heavy objects, stones and bottles”, with six officers injured.

• Georgian Public Defender: “special means” used in breaking up “peaceful assembly” in Tbilisi on Tuesday

The Minister said law enforcement officers had been mobilised to “ensure public order and safety of citizens”, with traffic blocked on Rustaveli avenue “as soon as it became necessary”, adding the protesters had “artificially blocked” exits of the Parliament building and prevented MPs from leaving the venue.

The official noted the Ministry had called on the organisers and participants of the rally “not to violate the law and follow instructions of law enforcement officers”, and reminded the protesters, who he said were trying to block entrances of the legislative body amid a plenary session, that blockading entrances of administrative bodies and disrupting their activities was forbidden.

The warning came before law enforcers cleared the exits of the building and set up a police cordon on site to enable the members of parliament to “move safely”.

• UPDATED: Law enforcement officers use water cannons to disperse demonstrators against transparency bill

The protesters “continued to attack police officers and attempted to break through the cordons”, with the demonstration “taking on a violent manner”, the Minister said, and added police had “gradually started to administer special means” - pepper spray, tear gas and water cannons - to “restore public order and de-escalate the situation”.

Violent actions on Rustaveli Avenue and in the areas adjacent to the Parliament building continued for several hours, due to which the police had to administer special means on a number of occasions”, he added.

Darakhvelidze said Levan Khabeishvili, the Chair of the United National Movement opposition party, had broken into the police cordon “in order to interfere with the activities” of the police and “resisted them, during which he sustained injuries”, adding Khabeishvili was immediately taken to a medical facility, with the opposition party Chair accusing police officers of physical abuse.

The protest was organised against the legislative initiative which calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.