Protesters to hold ‘March of Freedom’ today
Protesters to hold ‘March of Freedom’ today

Protesters are gathering at Parliament building in Tbilisi to arrange a “March of Freedom.” Members of European Georgia and National Movement Parties, as well as people from regions, will join the marching.

On June 28, one of the organizers of the demonstration Misha Mshvildadze called Bidzina Ivanishvili, Chairman of Georgian Dream Party, to create a precedent of stepping back. According to him, the time of monopoly is over in the country and the time of unity has come.

Protests in front of the parliament building at central Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi have been held since June 20 in reaction to a Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov’s 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.

The demand of the demonstrators remains unchanged: resignation of Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia after the so-called Gavrilov Night when the 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.