In Georgian capital, refugees demand from Saakashvili to solve their problems

Today, at 2 p.m. in front of the Parliament of Georgia, refugees held a rally, where the announced their demands to President Mikhail Saakashvili. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) demand to provide housing for them in areas, where they can find employment.

"We hold this action, as it is today that President Mikhail Saakashvili is addressing the Parliament with his annual report. We insist that people are given housing in such areas, where they can find work and earn money for their existence," Aleko Shalamberidze, an activist of the opposition People's Party, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, the refugees' demands were brought to the knowledge of the President through the media, since many reporters attended the rally.

Valery Kopaleishvili, Deputy Minister for Refugees' Matters, stated, in his turn, "at this stage eviction from illegally occupied premises is over." "We've released all the premises, occupied after the 2008 war. New evictions may be necessary only if someone decides to again illegally occupy some buildings," the "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio quotes Mr Kopaleishvili as saying.

However, the refugees themselves believe that the eviction was stopped because of protests and attention of the public. "In fact, the authorities had planned to continue evicting people. But, thanks to the efforts of the public, media, international organizations and diplomatic missions in Georgia, they decided to suspend the eviction process. The fact that the Human Rights Watch noted the topic of evictions in the first part of its report on Georgia, and the Amnesty International drafted, during January 20-28, several special reports on the same topic, had affected the authorities," Aleko Shalamberidze shared his opinion with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Gennady Kakuliya, an activist of the "Civil Movement of Refugees", does not exclude that evictions may be resumed with time. "The authorities are monitoring the public reaction. Therefore, after the first eviction - last August - they suspended the campaign, and resumed it only six months later. Now they faced the same critical and vehement reaction of the people. Maybe later they'll again forget about their promises and once again start resettling refugees," he said.