63 people were arrested at the rally held yesterday on Rustaveli Avenue. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, at a briefing.
According to him, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested 63 people under Articles 166 and 173 for petty hooliganism and disobedience to the legal demands of the police at the rally on Rustaveli Avenue.
"We would like to provide the public with detailed information about the developments on Rustaveli Avenue, in the areas surrounding the buildings of the parliament and the government administration.
I would like to emphasize that the organizers and participants of the rally had the opportunity to express their protest in a peaceful situation throughout the day, however, at the end of the day at around 21:00, after the plenary session came to an end, the participants of the rally blocked the entrances to the legislative body, which was manifested in that political leaders and participants of the rally occupied the building exits on Chitadze and Chichinadze streets.
They artificially blocked the exits and claimed that they would not allow members of parliament to leave the legislative body building.
In accordance with the Law of Georgia "On Assemblies and Manifestations", it is forbidden to block the entrances of administrative buildings and disrupt their activities. Despite numerous calls made by the police, as well as the statements issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not to block the administrative building and to continue protesting within the limits established by law, the organizers of the rally did not obey the instructions of the law enforcement officers and continued to intentionally block the entrances. Taking into account the situation, the police secured the Parliament building exit and placed a police cordon on the site so that members of the parliament and employees had the opportunity to move safely.
The police ensured the safe removal of the MPs, while the participants of the rally had the full opportunity within the law to peacefully continue their protest. Although the participants of the rally had the opportunity to peacefully express their protest on Rustaveli Avenue and at the back entrance of the Parliament, the participants of the rally continued to attack the policemen and tried to break through the cordons.
The public clearly saw that the rally had fully taken on a violent character.
We all saw well how the protestors confronted the police. They abused them physically and verbally, threw various heavy objects, including stones, bottles, in the direction of law enforcement officers.
As a result of the violent actions, six police officers were injured and were taken to clinics for appropriate medical assistance.
In order to restore public order and de-escalate the situation, after a proper warning, at approximately 10:15 p.m., the police consistently started using equipment means established by the Law of Georgia "On Police", in particular, the so-called pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon”, said Aleksandre Darakhvelidze.
