‘March of Freedom’ to be Held Today

On June 29, the tenth day of the mass demonstrations in Georgia's capital Tbilisi, peaceful demonstrators plan to gather at the Republic Square to arrange a “March of Freedom.” Demonstrators will gather at 19:00 at the Republic Square and arrange a march to the Liberty Square.

One of the organizers of the demonstration made the relevant statement about it on June 28.

The demand of the demonstrators remains unchanged: resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia. The protestors believe that Gakharia is responsible for the raid of the rallies in front of the Parliament on June 20-21.

However, the Minister does not intend to resign.

The visit of three Russian MPs to Georgia within the framework of a session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held at the Parliament building was followed by severe protests by the public and opposition MPs on June 20, especially due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair, speaking in Russian.

The protest turned into clashes with police after protesters tried to enter the parliament building. The police used tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets against protesters.

Protesters threw bottles full of water, stones and other things at the police that resulted in their detention.

Police arrested 305 people for violation of public order. The majority of them have already been released.

According to the current data, 3 detained still remain in the custody.

240 people were hospitalized in the aftermath of the clashes, with 6 still in hospital today.

By Ana Dumbadze