Tbilisi Mayor Calls on Youth to Unite against Drugs

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has called on the youth holding (or planning to hold) large-scale protest rallies at the old building of parliament,to stand together in the fight against drugs.

The Mayor made the statement on May 12, nearly 20 hours after the protests were launched against a background on the electronic music and mass dances.

The demonstrations came after that morning's night-time raids on two famous nightclubs, Bassiani and Café Gallery, where, according to the Interior Ministry, eight drug dealers were arrested.

The protesters held a rally named “Fight For Freedom”, saying the government had raided the clubs to demonstrate their power and to “restrict peoples' freedom.”

“My sisters, brothers and my friends, I am offering you the chance to stand together against the drug trade and drug dealers, in coordination with the respective agencies," Kaladze said. "All of this seriously harms the club scene. Young people, our children, brothers, sisters and fellow citizens are dying. I am convinced that the youth rallying outside old parliament can stand side-by-side with us and together we will be able to defeat drug trafficking."

"We are not defending or supporting drug dealers," one protestor told GEORGIA TODAY. "We are protesting the show the government staged as an act of demonstration of power, an act against Kaladze and his night economy project, an act of moving the attention from the core of the problem to the minor one. If they had acted sooner to prevent the drug dealing, they could have saved lives."

At present, the protesters are in the office of the NGO White Noise Movement, which demands a liberal drug policy. Early this morning, the police removed their tents from Rustaveli as they lacked the necessary permission to pitch tents while holding a rally.

The demonstrators are going to resume their rally today at 3pm on Rustaveli Avenue.

By Thea Morrison

Video source: Netgazeti