12:35, 4 May 2004

Military disperse demonstration in Batumi

Servicemen in camouflage uniform are dispersing a demonstration of approximately 500 people in the center of Batumi. They are using wooden truncheons against the demonstrators. Some people have already suffered. The people have been squirted on from a water cannon.

Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze "distributes arms among people purposely to protect himself," said a Batumi teacher. "We don't want to live under his dictatorship, and he is to blame for what is happening here," demonstrators say.

In his interview to the local television last night, Aslan Abashidze announced the toughening of the state of emergency.

Source: RIA Novosti