Tbilisi: clash of oppositionists with policemen results in victims

Tonight in Tbilisi, at the building of Chief Administration of Patrol Police, a clash burst out between supporters of the opposition and policemen; several persons suffered. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia has detained Georgiy Gachechiladze, a popular variety singer, known under his scenic pseudonym "Utsnobi" (Stranger).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that mass actions of the Georgian oppositional forces with a demand of President Saakashvili's resignation began on April 9.

The situation in the capital of Georgia became worse after activists of the Georgian opposition left the permanent rally held at the Parliament of Georgia and made their way to the police station, where the earlier detained activists of the youth movement "April 9" are kept.

The march was initiated by Georgiy Gachechiladze who called the public to go and liberate the activists illegally detained by the authorities of Georgia, as the "GHN" Agency reports.

At the building of the Chief Police Administration of Tbilisi, law enforcers rendered physical resistance to the protesters, in which many persons were wounded, among them leaders of the opposition Levan Gachechiladze, Giya Maisashvili, Zviad Dzidziguri, David Gamkrelidze, head of Nino Burdzhanadze's security and others.

The eyewitnesses of the incident assert that special agents used rubber bullets to force the oppositionists away from the door of the building, as reported by the "News-Georgia" Agency.

According to other Georgian media, the reason of the clash was Georgiy Gachechiladze's jumping over the fence into the yard the police, which caused objections of a group of special agents. Besides, the protesters used sticks against law enforcers, and the latter reacted accordingly.