Law enforcers try disrupting protest action in central Tbilisi

Employees of Tbilisi Mayoralty have installed children's rides and sideshows in place of dismantled tents of oppositional activists. In the morning, policemen tried to hamper activists from holding a new protest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the evening on December 30, in Rustaveli Avenue, in front of the parliament building, authorities removed the tents of the protesters, who were seeking to change the country's electoral system; the Mayoralty decided to set up children's attractions right in that very place. It provoked activists' protest. As a result of clashes with the police, nine protesters were detained.

This morning, Elene Khoshtariya, an MP from the oppositional "European Georgia" Party, demanded from policemen to let her onto the platform on the steps of the parliament building from side of Rustaveli Avenue, but law enforcers have blocked her way.

Ms Khoshtariya has explained that she just wants to set up her own conditional trampoline made from a piece of white cloth. After journalists' intervention, policemen cleared the way for her; and she went to the place in front of the parliament and unfolded a piece of cloth there. Several people helped her in holding the cloth, thereby depicting an impromptu trampoline. "Thus, we want to emphasize the ridiculousness and senselessness of Ivanishvili's attempts to mask his arbitrariness with the help of children's attractions," Elene Khoshtariya has told reporters.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 31, 2019 at 11:54 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.