Conflict at Ozurgeti City Assembly Building

Today in Ozurgeti, a small city in the Guria region in Western Georgia, members of the opposition party United National Movement (UNM) organized a protest rally outside the Ozurgeti Sakrebulo (City Assembly) building. A member of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Nugzar Giorgadze, attended the protest, claiming to have documents proving that acts of violence were committed by the government when UNM was in power from 2004-2013. Giorgadze also said that former UNM president Mikheil Saakashvili could never return to power in Georgia. The conflict escalated when UNM supporters got the documents from Giorgadze and tore the papers. Police then escorted Giorgadze and another participant away from the protest.

Davit Mzhavanadze, a majoritarian candidate for UNM in the Ozurgeti Sakrebulo, and Besik Katamadze, deputy head of the Ozurgeti organization of the United National Movement and MP in the Ozurgeti Sakrebulo, were denied access to their chambers in the Ozurgeti Sakrebulo building by local police. Police have asked Katamadze and Mzhavanadze to leave the building.

Protests continue outside the Ozurgeti City Assembly building.

By Samantha Guthrie