Majority MP Irakli Kobakhidze said that the law does not prohibit holding of rallies of political character. Kobakhidze commented about the protest planned by the opposition for June 20 on the occasion of first anniversary of June 20 protests in Tbilisi.

“Gathering of 200 members of National Movement on June 20 is not a problem neither with respect to political nor epidemic situation. Let them gather. We will count them one by one. It will be easy taking into consideration that they will have to follow social distancing guideline,” Kobakhidze said.

The so-called Gavrilov Night protest was dispersed by the riot police with the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. About 240 people both civilians and law-enforcers were injured during the night of June 20-21, 2019.

Protests in front of the parliament building at Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi have been held since June 20 in reaction to the visit of Sergey Gavrilov, a Russian lawmaker and his sitting in the parliamentary speaker’s chair during a religious assembly, which many Georgians saw as an unwelcome reminder of Russian military occupation of its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.