Rights defenders warn about possibility of civil confrontation in Georgia

Frequent skirmishes of "Georgian Dream" activists from among civil servants with oppositionists are giving rise to extreme political escalation, analysts of the NGO "International Transparency Georgia" have stated.

Protests over the vote failure for the bill of changing the country's electoral system have been held in Georgia since November 14. Protesters demand resignation of the government. On December 2, two activists of the "Posmey" (Dare) movement were hospitalized after clashes with police and supporters of the ruling "Georgian Dream" Party.

Clashes of supporters of the ruling party with opposition activists are extremely dangerous, experts of the above NGO believe. According to their data, during the November 22 rallies in Zugdidi, Kutaisi and Batumi, offenses were committed both by state officials and MPs; and on December 2, supporters of the ruling party brawled with activists in Tbilisi.

However, in the opinion of the political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", actions involving supporters of the ruling party and civil servants are unlikely to develop into a large-scale civil confrontation and will not lead to an aggravation of the political situation in Georgia.

According to Zaal Andjaparidze, a political analyst, the confrontation will come to naught, if the ruling party manages to outwait the wave of protests, or the opposition runs out of resources.