Police: 27 people injured at protest in Tbilisi

In Georgia, during a rally held in front of the building of the Central Election Commission (CEC), 10 protesters, 14 law enforcers, and three journalists were injured, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia reported. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre demanded from the authorities to stop using water cannons against participants of peaceful protests.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 8, in Tbilisi, according to organizers of the action, about 10,000 people took part in the rally with the demand to cancel the results of the parliamentary elections. The police met the protesters near the CEC building with water jets.

Today, at a briefing, Kakha Sabanadze, Georgian First Deputy Interior Minister, has reported that 10 protesters, 14 law enforcers, and three journalists were injured during the rally.

In connection with the police using water cannons against protesters, the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre (EMC) has released an appeal to the government stating that "the majority [of the protesters] demonstrated a purely peaceful behaviour."

"In accordance with the international standards, measures such as tear gas or water cannons, which pose a high risk of harm infliction, can only be used as a last resort in case of massive violence, if all other means failed to contain the violence," the human rights defenders emphasized in their released statement, translated from the Georgian language by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The EMC suggests that the police had no grounds for using special equipment.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 9, 2020 at 11:55 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.