HRW and RWB condemn Georgian authorities for dispersing oppositional rally

The international organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Reporters Without Borders (RWB) have treated the force used by Georgian police to disperse the demonstration in Tbilisi as excessive and disproportionate.

HRW: nothing can justify beating of peaceful demonstrators

"Even if the demonstration in Tbilisi was not sanctioned, nothing can justify beating of peaceful demonstrators. The policemen responsible for violence against protesters should be brought to justice," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of the HRW for Europe and Central Asia.

The HRW has urged the Georgian government to immediately start a thorough and impartial investigation into the actions of law enforcers against demonstrators, the "Gazeta.ru" writes.

RWB collects data about violence against journalists during rally dispersal

The international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders has also stated that it was shocked by the crackdown in Georgia and policemen's attacks on journalists, said Johan Bihr, head of the European Bureau of the RWB.

"The RWB has resolutely condemned the violence used by Georgian power agents against the media professionals who were covering the last night's demonstration," said Mr Bihr.

According to his story, the RWB is now collecting data on all cases of violence and beatings of journalists, destruction and confiscation of equipment during the dispersal of the demonstration, and prepares to issue a statement, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

"The brutality, with which the authorities dispersed the demonstrators, who were mostly peaceful, and journalists (including correspondents of foreign mass media), is shocking and unworthy of democracy," said the RWB's representative.

"Institute of Democracy": authorities must disclose information about detainees

The fate of many participants and their whereabouts remain unknown, as reported by the NGO named "Institute of Democracy". "It is particularly difficult for the people living in the regions to obtain information about their relatives and friends who took part in the rally," the Institute believes.

The NGO urges the authorities to disclose the detailed information about the detainees and injured protesters, who take their treatment, including information about their residences.

Besides, the NGO finds it necessary to announce the "hotline" telephone number, by which citizens can check the condition and whereabouts of their relatives and friends.

The "Institute for Democracy" believes that the actions of law enforcers against protesters were apparent excess of force and demands immediate start of the legal prosecution of this fact.

Head of the EU mission in Georgia: dispersal of rally was conducted legally

At the same time, Philip Dimitrov, head of EU mission in Georgia, believes that the crackdown of the opposition rally last night in Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi was carried out "in an organized and lawful manner."

"The situation was complicated: street mass actions are often accompanied by multiple skirmishes; and if a specific time had been coordinated with the protesters, the condition should have been observed," the "Interfax" quotes Mr Dimitrov as saying.

Let us remind you that earlier the opposition leaders and the US Ambassador to Georgia John Bass had stated that the responsibility for what happened at night on May 26 in Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi should be shared by both the authorities and organizers of the unsanctioned protest. The leader of the "Georgian Party" put the moral responsibility for the clashes on Nino Burjanadze.