'Together against One' Demonstration Underway outside Parliament

The participants of the “It’s a Shame” event are holding a demonstration titled “Together Against One” in front of the Parliament building, protesting against former Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s appointment as Prime Minister, claiming that police used excessive force against protestors on June 20 rally (also known as Gavrilov Night)  according to his order.

As one of the organizers of the demonstration Shota Digmelashvili said, today they have a tight schedule, as various speeches are planned during the event and many people are expected to join the rally.

Law enforcers are mobilized near the Parliament.

“On September 20, exactly three months since 'Gavrilov night', we will come out again and gather around the building of the Parliament to show that we are not tired, we are not afraid, and we are not going to keep quiet,” the organizers announced earlier today.

Later, the demonstration will be joined by the participants of another rally being held simultaneously in front of the Presidential Residence on Atoneli Street, where civil activists are expressing protest against the list of the convicts recently pardoned by the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili.

Protests on Rustaveli Avenue have been held since June 20 in reaction to 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, mostly due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair, speaking in Russian, which many Georgians saw as the unwelcome reminder of the Russian occupation of the country's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). 

The so-called Gavrilov Night protest was dispersed by riot police with the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. 240 individuals, including 32 journalists and 80 law enforcers, were injured during a clash on Rustaveli Avenue on June 20-21. 

Related Story: Rally against Presidential Pardons Underway outside Atoneli Residence

By Ana Dumbadze