Police do not let Zaza Saralidze to set up a tent in front of Georgian parliament

In Tbilisi, Zaza Saralidze and Malkhaz Machalikashvili have called on members of political parties to join their protest action. The appeal was voiced after the police did not let the protestors to set up a tent in front of the parliament building.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting from September 10, Zaza Saralidze, a father of a killed schoolboy, has been holding a hunger strike in front of the Georgian parliament building. On September 24, the protestor applied to the Tbilisi City Mayoralty to get permission to install tents in front of the parliament building in order to continue the protest actions in bad weather.

According to Zaza Saralidze, he got a sanction from the authorities to set up a tent. However, on September 26, the police did not let him to set it up. At first, policemen seized a tent from the Zaza Saralidze's car, parked on the way to the parliament building. Apart from the tent, the policemen also seized warm blankets, food and drinking water, prepared by Zaza Saralidze for participants of the protest action. Zaza Saralidze tried to resist the policemen, and as a result he was detained. When the policemen tried to force him into their car, he lost consciousness. The protestor was provided with the first medical aid and set free, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Zaza Saralidze treated the actions of the policemen as unlawful, since they produced no warrant to search and seize his belongings. Besides, the protester noted he had notified the City Mayoralty and the police about his intention to set up one tent and had got a sanction in advance.

Zaza Saralidze has called on residents of the country to support the protest actions and join the protest with the demand to restore justice: to investigate the killings and to dismiss the government.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 27, 2018 at 08:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.