Refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia capture about 30 buildings in Georgia

Refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia seize buildings for housing, because, according to their stories, they are unable to pay the rent. Over the past two days they captured about 30 buildings.

On October 25, about 100 poor people stormed the Tbilisi Mayoralty and settled there on the second level of the building. They demanded to provide them with flats in the new houses built by Swiss specialists for the socially disadvantaged citizens.

In particular, 12 families of refugees from Abkhazia broke into the building of the Research Centre of Subtropical Crops and Tea Industry and took rooms there. According to the scientist, who worked in the centre, the captured rooms house the soil exploration service and a large amount of equipment, which will cause an irreparable damage to the centre if damaged. The refugees say they cannot pay the rent of their flats.

In the city of Gldani refugees tried to capture a former sports school, but they could not open the iron gate. They explained that earlier they had lived there but were evicted. Now, the building is being repaired.

Besides, on October 25 about 80 socially vulnerable families broke into the building of the Tax Service of the Nadzaladevi District of Tbilisi. David Darakhvelidze, the new Minister for Refugees and Accommodation, came to the place and asked the protesters not to crack the room where the documentation was kept, the "Georgia Online" reports.

Mr Darakhvelidze blamed the Tbilisi Mayoralty and the Social Welfare Services for the incident, the "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio reports.

In his turn, the new Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has promised to deal with the issue of illegal occupation of buildings, and did not rule out that the actions had been organized by the former authorities of Georgia, the "Gazeta.ru" reports.