Four Persons Detained Following Clash at Tbilisi City Assembly

Police have detained four persons after a clash at Tbilisi City Assembly (Sakrebulo). The situation in the City Council escalated after the activists and opposition MPs set up a tent nearby Erekle Kukhianidze’s room, demanding his urgent resignation. 

Erekle Kukhianidze, a member of the Tbilisi City Council from the Georgian Dream ruling party, accused the family of doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili of calculated provocation and disregard of the whole state. When the consequences of one’s action are easy to foreshadow (meaning the occupants’ reaction to the doctor’s commendable decision), one should refrain from the action, or else he/she can be seen as a provocateur, to paraphrase Kukhianidze’s post on Facebook.

“This story has an evil-smelling vigor! I tell you directly - when you know that there is an occupier, watching to arrest and punish you, and nonetheless you proceed with your action…You also know that your country is devoid of ability to efficiently resist the occupier, and your family wilfully resists the state - either the whole family are idiots or provocateurs.. alas! " reads the excerpt from Kukhianidze’s post.

Patrol police officers forcibly removed the activists and opposition MPs from the scene. The persons were arrested under Articles 166 and 173 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, involving petty hooliganism and disobedience to lawful requests of the police, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

By Elene Dzebisashvili