Tbilisi: rally organizers state protest activeness decline

On July 29, only about 300 people rallied in Tbilisi; therefore, organizers decided that actions in August will continue in the format of conversations and performances, and will resume in the former format from September.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that protests in Tbilisi began on June 20 after the Russian MP, Sergey Gavrilov, took the chair of the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament at a sitting of the Parliamentary Orthodox Assembly. This triggered protests of oppositional MOs, strengthened by their supporters. After dispersal of one of the protests, the Ministry of Public Health announced hospitalization of 240 persons. Meanwhile, protests continued; and their participants managed to achieve resignation of the Speaker of the Parliament and the holding the 2020 elections under the proportional system; they still insist on resignation of Giorgi Gakhariya, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

"July-August is a low season; people can't gather for rallies; therefore, we'll gather in the same format as today – to hold conversations, performances, and the like, but in September we'll resume rallies demanding Gakhariya's dismissal," Shota Digmelashvili one of the organizers, said on July 29, during an evening rally in front of the parliament building.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 30, 2019 at 00:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.