21:17, 3 January 2017

Culture House in Pankisi Gorge set on fire

Pankisi Gorge, Georgia. Photo: http://rus.azattyq.org/

Iza Bekauri, the head of the Kakheti Regional Development Fund, has associated the arson of the Culture House in the village of Duisi with the activities of the Fund, which was earlier criticized by local supporters of Islam.

Gasoline was spilled on the second level of the building and set on fire. The fire was extinguished; the front door and a part of the flooring have burnt down. Law enforcers began investigating the reasons of the fire; however, with no results so far. There is no information about the victims.

According to Iza Bekauri, some Duisi villagers had publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the activities of the Fund, which had organized singing and dancing circles in the Culture House, and regularly held various cultural events there. They claimed that singing and dancing are forbidden by Islam, said Bekauri, linking these statements with the today's arson, the "News-Georgia" reports with reference to the "Way" Georgian-language community radio of the Pankisi Gorge.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.