Sixty six protesters detained in Georgia, opposition announces new rallies

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia reports this.

Law enforcement officers have started investigating violent incidents of the rally. Some protesters are accused of attacking police officers.

"There were facts of petty hooliganism and disobedience to the police legal demands; law enforcement officers detained 66 people in accordance with Articles 166 and 173 of the Administrative Offenses Code of Georgia. Offenses committed were submitted to the court within the time limit established by law," the message says.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that the action went beyond the law on freedom of speech, and its participants used pyrotechnics, threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and set fire to the ministry cars.

The police "in order to restore public order and prevent crimes" used "proportionate force and special measures."

The ministry also announced that 50 law enforcement officers were injured.

"As a result of violence, about 50 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were injured, several of them required surgical intervention and are still in medical institutions. Citizens were also injured during the rally," the message says.

Foto: Reuters

As reported by the Mtvari TV channel, the opposition claims numerous arrests of rally participants and some politicians, and has already announced new protests.

"At three o'clock in the afternoon (March 8, - ed.) we will gather on Rustaveli Avenue. And we will do it every day until Rustaveli Avenue (where the parliament is located) becomes Georgian, not Russian. Until we achieve victory," former leader of the United National Movement (Saakashvili's party) Nick Melia said. 

Earlier, Ekho Kavkaza reported that law enforcement officers dispersed the action participants in front of the parliament building using a water cannon and tear gas. Some demonstrators were detained, but the exact number is currently unknown.

The security forces also dispersed the protesters on the streets adjacent to the parliament, thus occupying both sides of the building.

On the territory adjacent to the parliament, there are no more demonstrators, but they continue to protest behind the security forces barricades.

As noted, the United States may impose sanctions on those responsible for the suppression of protests in Georgia, according to the statement of the US State Department spokesman  Ned Price during a Washington briefing.

"We have been closely following developments in Georgia in recent hours. We’ve seen the reports that are emanating from Tbilisi. We’ve seen reports that protesters have been met with tear gas, with other efforts to repress and suppress the protest against this draft so-called foreign agents legislation," Price said.

According to the spokesperson of the State Department, those responsible for the suppression of protests in Georgia may be subject to US sanctions.

"We have a number of tools within our purview that would allow us to hold accountable anyone in any country around the world who is responsible for the suppression of what would otherwise be a universal human right," he added.

As the SOVA publication wrote, earlier the protesters near the Georgian parliament threw Molotov cocktails at the security forces, and an egg was thrown at the head of the ombudsman Levan Ioseliani.

As reported by the Georgian Radio Svoboda, the protesters broke through the barricade installed in front of the parliament building. Security forces poured water on the demonstrators from the side of the parliament yard.

Georgian mass media wrote that more than 10 000 people joined the protest against the adoption of the foreign agents legislation in front of the country's parliament building.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, addressed the participants of the protests in an emergency message and expressed her support for them, the Mtavari TV channel reports.

"I am addressing you who are standing tonight on Rustaveli, because I have been there many times. You represent free Georgia. Georgia that sees its future in Europe and will not allow anyone to deprive it of this future," she emphasized.

The President of Georgia noted that the country does not need the draft law on "foreign agents", and the government's earlier promises to send it to the Venice Commission do not make sense, because she "knows very well what the law is."

"From the very first day, I said that I would veto this law. I do not consider it necessary to discuss its details," Zurabishvili emphasized.

Interpressnews reported that tensions rose after co-organizers of the protest called to move to all three exits from the parliament. The special forces ranks did not allow this. People chanted "Russians" and "slaves". The police used tear gas several times, and a water cannon was also spotted near the parliament.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs published a statement that the action "has become violent" and that if the protesters ignore the legal demands of the police, they will be "met with proportional force, as defined by the law, including special force."

There were calls from the police for the protesters to disperse with warnings that otherwise they might use force.

In parliament itself, a small group of opposition MPs tried to force their way into the speaker's office, insisting that they had the right to demand an immediate meeting with him on what was happening. Security did not let them through.

On March 7, the Parliament of Georgia in the first reading approved the draft law "On the transparency of foreign influence", which largely imitates the Russian "foreign agents" legislation. At first it was planned that it would be considered on March 9. But the discussion began while the majority of opposition deputies were absent.