In pictures:
Morning of June 20 protests outside Georgian parliament
Protests erupted around and inside the building of the Parliament of Georgia in Tbilisi on Thursday after a Russian State Duma MP appeared in the seat of the lawmaking body's chairman to deliver an address. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
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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.
Leading personalities of the opposition and public figures were part of the crowd that demonstrated outside the parliament as events unfolded in the follow-up of the incident where MP Sergey Gavrilov was confronted during his speech at the lawmaking body.
Opposition MPs in the Georgian parliament protested the Russian lawmaker's address from the seat based on his supposed participation against Georgia in the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia and Russian military's ongoing occupation of Georgia's Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.
The protesters outside the parliament later blocked the main avenue of the capital and demanded repercussions for government members and the ruling party, demanding resignation of Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia, among other officials.
Initial protests are launched outside the Parliament of Georgia in the wake of the incident involving an appearance of Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov in the seat of the chairman of the Georgian lawmaking body in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Protesters gather in the Sir Oliver Wardrop Garden outside the parliament venue to voice their discontent with the incident. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Leading opposition figure Giga Bokeria (in suit) seen at the protest as reporters interview arriving politicians. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Security and police crews were mobilised outside the parliament's entrance as protesters with banners bearing messages on Russian troops' ongoing occupation of two Georgian regions demanded answers for the incident in the venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
People in the parliament building view the protesters gathered outside. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
The protests blocked roads around the parliament building and later spread to the space in front of the venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
An activist protesting outside an entrance to the parliament using a piece of barbed wire - symbolising the demarcation lines set up by Russian occupying forces between the Georgian-controlled territory and the country's regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) since the 2008 war between the two countries. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
The events continued inside the parliament building, with protesters displaying banners in relation to the Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov's appearance in the Georgian parliament. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Citizens display a banner featuring Russian president Vladimir Putin during the protest inside the parliament venue. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Protesters photographed outside the parliament building on Thursday. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Police look on as political personalities and citizens gather outside the parliament building in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
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.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Konstantinidi says the Foreign Ministry agrees with the ‘fair’ public protest regarding the Russian MPs’ visit to Georgia. He stated the Foreign Ministry permanently raises the issue of the occupation of two of the country’s regions as this is the key priority for the agency.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
The United States Embassy in Georgia has offered its reactions to the developments in Tbilisi where protesters repeatedly clashed with police, saying the diplomatic mission closely followed the events and urged for calm.
The European Georgia and the United National Movement opposition parties have refused to attend the presentation at 2 p.m., when the Georgian Dream ruling party will propose the changes in the constitution for Georgia to have fully proportional voting in the 2020 parliamentary elections, the electoral system have demanded by the opposition for years.
15 opposition parties have addressed new Parliamentary Speaker Archil Talakvadze and demanded that the parliamentary group working on election reform be expanded. The opposition says that the list of the parties involved in the working group should be revised and the reform group should be of a more inclusive nature.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani says that direct flights with Russia, which was banned by the Russian government starting from July 8, should be resumed as the flights are important for people-to-people and humanitarian relations.
The police had a legitimate right to use force at the June 20-21 rally dispersal, but it remains to be seen how proportionate the force used was and whether the force or weapons used by the police were lawful, says Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria.