Georgia: five oppositionists wounded in clashes with police

The organizers of today's rally in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, where clashes with the police took place, assert that the action was peaceful. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) says that the protesters threw stones at policemen.

The organizers of the rally, the leaders - Eka Beseliya, of the "Solidarity" Movement, Levan Gachechiladze, of the Movement "Defend Georgia", Zviad Dzidziguri, of the Conservative Party, Koba Davitashvili, of the People's Party, and Zurab Nogaideli, of the Party "For Fair Georgia", give two main reasons for holding the rally.

Firstly, oppositionists demand to set free 60 persons whom the regard to be political prisoners, and to release all the illegally arrested persons, the count of whom being of several thousands. Secondly, the protest against marking today - on the Day of Saint George, the patron of Georgia - of the Police Day, marked for the first time in the country. A parade near the building of the Chief Police administration, located in the Digomi District, was organized today on this occasion.

Besides, a year ago members of the United Opposition tried, during their termless protest rally, to rush into the building of the Police Department in Digomi; as a result several persons seriously suffered.

Today, the rally started in the morning in front of the MIA building in the Varketili District; and about the midday, people moved towards the Department in Digomi.

Eka Beseliya says that the event was peaceful and a continuation of the action held on April 30, where the opposition demanded to release political prisoners; however, the authorities "failed to release a single political prisoner." Ms Beseliya asserts that the fight burst out when stones were thrown from the side of the police.

Sozar Subari, former Ombudsman and nowadays a co-chairman of the Alliance "For Georgia", said that people had their legitimate right to protest. "Last year people during the protest action suffered from the police, three persons lost their vision; and this year they are celebrating on that very day. People perceive it as sneer and mockery," he said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to Mr Subari, he has information that the first stones were really thrown from the side of the police special troops. "Certainly, not policemen threw them, but people in civilian who hide behind the police," the ex-Ombudsman has noted.

Shota Utiashvili, head of the Information-Analytical Department of the MIA, in his turn, stated that the first stones were thrown by the demonstrators, who moved in the direction of the police administration in Digomi. "Since nobody was seriously wounded, we decided not to initiate criminal cases on the fact of hooliganism or because of other crimes," Mr Utiashvili said.