Georgian PM: It was very hard to see the MP of an occupying country at high tribune of Georgian parliament
People are rallying in front of the Georgian parliament, protesting the presence of Russian MPs in Georgia after a scandal in parliament. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that it was very difficult for him to see a Russian MP speak from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary chair.
He says that the fact “affects national interests and the Georgian parliament.”
I fully share the protest of the Georgian people regarding the incident and appeal to the organisers to explain the reasons [how this could happen] take appropriate action,” Bakhtadze wrote.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that the protest of the Georgian people is fair. Photo: Prime Minister's press office.
People are now rallying in front of the parliament building of Georgia, protesting the presence of Russian MPs in Georgia and the actions of Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov in the Georgian parliament earlier today.
Police in large numbers are present at the scene.
Georgian opposition MPs interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
The Georgian Dream ruling party MPs also condemned the incident, saying that the Greek secretary general of the assembly and not Gavrilov should have moderated the event.
Gavrilov says that “radical groups” in the Georgian parliament suspended the assembly and insulted him.
Russian MP Alexey Chepa, who is currently paying a visit to Georgia to attend the interparliamentary session on Orthodoxy, has denied occupation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Russia. Has also called for the return of the Soviet Union, and for the countries of the former USSR to be reunited.
Georgian opposition MPs have interrupted the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) after a Russian MP and president of the assembly, Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the Georgian parliamentary speaker’s chair earlier today.
Russian MPs who participated in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held in the Georgian parliament earlier today are leaving Georgia after an incident took place when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, Tbilisi Mayor, Secretary General of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze says.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov has claimed "radicals" in the Parliament of Georgia doused him in water and attempted to forcefully take his papers in an incident at the lawmaking body in Tbilisi on Thursday.
Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted to today’s incident in the Georgian parliament, when Russian MPs were forced to leave the building where they were attending the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Political opposition and part of the public erupted in protest in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP took a seat of the chairman of the Parliament of Georgia for an address to the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the capital.
The police Special Forces are trying to prevent the protesters from entering the building of the Georgian parliament in central Tbilisi. The Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia who went to the parliament said this is an attempt "to storm the state institutions" and called on the demonstrators to obey the police.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has called for "calm" amid unrest in Tbilisi as protesting crowds have been dispersed by police using tear gas in front of the parliament building.
Mako Gomuri, 18, who lost her eye during the June 20 Tbilisi protests, will be provided with medical treatment abroad, Georgian government official Sozar Subari said. He stated the Georgian government will do its best for all the injured to recover.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin says that the Russian government was ready to abolish visa requirements for Georgia. However, the protests in Tbilisi, which were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament, postponed the possibility, he said.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia Ihor Dolhov temporarily left the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in protest when the member of the Russian parliament Sergei Gavrilov was addressing the audience in Tbilisi.