Tbilisi protesters demand to punish those who used force at Gavrilov's Night

In front of parliament in Tbilisi, about 3000 activists have held a rally on the anniversary of the start of June 2019 protests. They demanded to change the current power and punish those responsible for the use of violence at Gavrilov's Night.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that protests in Georgia began after Sergey Gavrilov, a Russian State Duma MP, took the Speaker's chair at the Georgian Parliament at a sitting of the parliamentary Orthodox assembly on June 20, 2019. In the evening of that day, the parliament building was surrounded by thousands of indignant people; clashes with policemen broke out. The protesters tried to break through the cordon and enter the building. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets, detaining 305 people.

A rally at the anniversary of the "Gavrilov's Night" was held in Tbilisi on June 20, 2020, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time. "About 3000 people gathered in the square, despite the fact that we had to follow the social distancing," Shota Digmelashvili, one of the organizers of the rally, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Misha Mshvildadze, another co-organizer of the rally, called for a change of power in the country. "Our goal is to call those responsible for using disproportionate force to account," he has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 21, 2020 at 09:07 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.