Participants of Two Rallies Spend Night on Rustaveli Avenue

The participants of two different rallies - anti-occupation demonstrators and opponents of Tbilisi Pride, spend the whole night on central Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

The demonstrators of both rallies are still in front of the Parliament building.

Law enforcers are mobilized on the spot.

The situation was tense during the night, several incidents took place among the protestors, including physical confrontation.

According to one of the organizers of anti-occupation rallies, Giga Makarashvili, the opponents of Tbilisi Pride deprive them of the location and time of the rally scheduled by them.

“They deprive us of our rally, its time and location, the MIA is obliged to defend the freedom of expression”, he stated yesterday.

Peaceful demonstrators who have been holding protests in Tbilisi for 19 days already say they will not stop until Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigns. However, last night they were unable to express their protest in front of Parliament building in the central Tbilisi as participants of a counter-protest occupied their traditional location.

Opponents of Tbilisi Pride demand the abolishment of the anti-discrimination law and introducing a law "banning perverted behavior."

Related Story: Three Different Rallies Underway in Georgia’s Capital

By Ana Dumbadze