22:46, 12 December 2019

12 protesters detained by Georgian parliament

Giorgi Vashadze. Photo: Uncnown - https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

Today, Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the "New Georgia" Party, and 11 other protesters have been taken to a police station. The detainees are suspected of disorderly conduct and failure to obey to law enforcers. Activists demand not to approve candidates for judges of the Supreme Court (SC) of Georgia and not to deprive opposition MP Nika Meliya of power.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting from November 14, protests have been held in Georgia, which were provoked by the MPs' failure to pass a bill to change the electoral system. The protesters demand to dismiss the government, hold early parliamentary elections, and remove Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the ruling "Georgian Dream" Party, from power. On December 2, two members of the movement "Dare" were hospitalized after a clash in front of the Mtskheta Mayoralty between policemen and supporters of the "Georgian Dream" Party.

Frequent clashes between activists of the "Georgian Dream" Party from among public sector employees and oppositionists create the ground for the aggravation of political confrontation, say analysts of the NGO "International Transparency-Georgia". No escalation will take place until a system of parliamentary elections is defined, and escalation of the situation will also unlikely happen in the future, political analysts suggest.

Earlier, at a protest action in Tbilisi, independent lawyers have opposed the consideration by the parliament of the list of candidates for judges and stated that the selection of candidates was based on the clan (family) principle.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 12, 2019 at 12:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.