In Tbilisi, unidentified persons in masks beat opposition activist

The night in front of the Parliament of Georgia, where a small group of opposition supporters and activists were on duty, passed in peace. However, elsewhere in Tbilisi incidents were registered connected with participants of the protest action - a young oppositionist was beaten.

We remind you that in the afternoon on April 9, several protest actions were held in parallel in Georgia. The largest one was organized in the centre of Tbilisi in front of the Parliament building by the leading oppositional parties of the country. The opposition delivered an ultimatum to President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili demanding his resignation.

Irakliy Kordzaya, one of the leaders of the youth organization named "Why?", said that several person in masks attacked, near the Rustaveli Avenue, an activist of the organization Irakliy Khukhuneishvili, severely beat him with rubber truncheons and disappeared in cars. The victim was hospitalized and rendered the necessary medical aid, as the "Interfax" reports.

Also, according to the Ombudsman of Georgia, at night in Tbilisi, a taxi was stopped with a citizen who was returning from the rally; the citizen was beaten, and the taxi was damaged.

Let us note here that according to Bidzin Guddzhabidze, a spokesman of the Conservative Party of Georgia, in the course of the protest action taxi drivers arrived to the Rustaveli Avenue and offered the protesters to bring them home free of charge. The oppositionist believes that this instruction was given by Vano Merabishvili, Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, as the "Georgia Today" reports.

He has reported another negative fact: electricity was cut off in the regions of the Eastern and Western Georgia. "We've achieved broadcasting by the Public Broadcaster of Georgia our action live from 8:00 p.m., but for whom, if the major part of the country is disconnected from electricity and our fellow citizens in the regions will see nothing?" the oppositionist was indignant and called the government to stop provocations.

The Georgian opposition has also planned to hold protest actions abroad. Thus, today an action should be held in front of the British Parliament, as reported by Giya Maisashvili, leader of the "Party of the Future", as the "Georgia Online" Agency reports.