14:49, 19 November 2019

Protesters set up tents after dispersal of protest in Tbilisi

Activist in a tent at the parliament building. Screenshot from the "Rustavi-2" TV Channel video broadcasting, http://rustavi2.ge/ka/news/147624

Activists set up several tents in front of the Georgian parliament building and spent the night in them. Pickets and rallies will continue, protesters emphasize.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since November 14, a round-the-clock protest action is being held in Tbilisi; it was launched after the MPs' failure to adopt the bill on amending the electoral system. On November 18, four persons, including two policemen, were injured during a dispersal of a protest rally. 37 activists were detained.

The people who have come out to Tbilisi streets are demanding to remove Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the ruling party, from power, dismiss the government and hold early parliamentary elections "under an interim government and in the conditions of an independent electoral administration."

Several protestors' tents have been set up in front of the parliament building, and several patrol police crews and ambulance doctors are also on duty at the place, the "InterPressNews" reports today at 10:18 a.m. Moscow time.

The protesters spent the night in those tents, the "Rustavi-2" TV Company reported without specifying the exact number of the activists.

"We will continue to hold our round-the-clock rallies until Bidzina Ivanishvili gives up power," said David Makharadze, one of the protesters, as quoted by the "Rustavi-2" TV Company. The protestor threatened that Rustaveli Avenue, the main street of Tbilisi, would turn into a tent city (as translated from Georgian by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent).

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 19, 2019 at 11:27 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.