Tweet
Police disperse opposition rally in Tbilisi
May 22, 2011 - 14:23 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Police in Georgia fired rubber bullets at protesters holding an
all-night demonstration against Western-backed President Mikheil
Saakashvili after they attacked a car full of people on May 22. Local
television in the country showed pictures of a group of
anti-government protesters with sticks attacking the car on Sunday
morning, smashing its windows and beating people inside.
"Police were forced to use rubber bullets to defend peaceful
citizens," AFP quoted interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili as
saying.
A spokeswoman for opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said the clash was
provoked by the people in the car, who tried to seize an activist from
the overnight protest outside the Georgian public television studios.
"People in the car were trying to kidnap one of the rally organisers
and the protesters attempted to defend him," Burjanadze's spokeswoman
Khatuna Ivanishvili told AFP.
Several hundred people continued the protest outside the television
studios after the incident, many of them carrying sticks. A second
clash then erupted when angry protesters threw stones at cars which
had approached the demonstration, suspecting the drivers of being
undercover police officers.
Around 6,000 supporters of the National Assembly opposition alliance
rallied in Tbilisi on Saturday, accusing President Saakashvili of
authoritarianism and calling for him to resign.
Hundreds more rallied in the Black Sea resort of Batumi, where
protests were broken up by police after activists tried to force their
way into a local television station, demanding airtime. The National
Assembly alleged that hundreds of its activists have been arrested
over the past three days.
"The authorities are carrying out a terror campaign against opposition
supporters," Nino Burjanadze, a former parliamentary speaker for the
Saakashvili government, told AFP.
May 22, 2011 - 14:23 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Police in Georgia fired rubber bullets at protesters holding an
all-night demonstration against Western-backed President Mikheil
Saakashvili after they attacked a car full of people on May 22. Local
television in the country showed pictures of a group of
anti-government protesters with sticks attacking the car on Sunday
morning, smashing its windows and beating people inside.
"Police were forced to use rubber bullets to defend peaceful
citizens," AFP quoted interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili as
saying.
A spokeswoman for opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said the clash was
provoked by the people in the car, who tried to seize an activist from
the overnight protest outside the Georgian public television studios.
"People in the car were trying to kidnap one of the rally organisers
and the protesters attempted to defend him," Burjanadze's spokeswoman
Khatuna Ivanishvili told AFP.
Several hundred people continued the protest outside the television
studios after the incident, many of them carrying sticks. A second
clash then erupted when angry protesters threw stones at cars which
had approached the demonstration, suspecting the drivers of being
undercover police officers.
Around 6,000 supporters of the National Assembly opposition alliance
rallied in Tbilisi on Saturday, accusing President Saakashvili of
authoritarianism and calling for him to resign.
Hundreds more rallied in the Black Sea resort of Batumi, where
protests were broken up by police after activists tried to force their
way into a local television station, demanding airtime. The National
Assembly alleged that hundreds of its activists have been arrested
over the past three days.
"The authorities are carrying out a terror campaign against opposition
supporters," Nino Burjanadze, a former parliamentary speaker for the
Saakashvili government, told AFP.