Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia says Police Used 'Proportionate' Forces Against People at Rally
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, March 10, 2023
After the special forces used water cannons and pepper spray to break up the protest on March 7, citizens gathered in front of the Parliament to protest the passing of 'foreign agents' bill on March 8 as well and police tried to break them up for the second time with the same method.
According to information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, law enforcement officers arrested 133 people at the protest in accordance with Articles 166 and 173 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, on the grounds of petty hooliganism and disobedience to the legal demands of the police.
MIA of Georgia released a statement regarding the rally on March 8, which reads that police used proportionate forces against the citizens as the participants went 'beyond the norms' established by law on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
According to them, about 50 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were injured, among them several of them required surgical intervention and are still in medical institutions.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that the protest was going on peacefully for several hours but it became 'gradually extremely violent'.
"Later, one of the participants of the rally, during his speech, called the gathered people to picket the legislative body, after which the participants of the rally started massively blocking the entrances of the parliament and picketing the building. During the rally, police forces were stationed in the parliament building to prevent verbal and physical confrontations with the rally participants.
Despite the warning of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the participants of the rally went beyond the norms established by the law on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. They did not obey the legal requirements of the law enforcement officers.
The gathered behaved aggressively and damaged the iron protective dams placed along the legislative body building, entrance doors, smashed the building's windows, iron grills, threw stones, various objects and pyrotechnics into the parliament building and yard, which may have caused serious consequences.
"The forms of protest by the participants of the rally in the vicinity of the Parliament building and on Rustaveli Avenue gradually became extremely violent," the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
According to the statement, considering all this, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs used appropriate coercive measures and special means.
"The police repeatedly tried to defuse the tense situation - they removed the aggressive persons from the territory surrounding the parliament and called on the participants of the rally to disperse peacefully, although they continued their violent actions and did not obey the legal demands of the law enforcement officers.
The people gathered on Rustaveli Avenue started throwing the so-called 'Molotov cocktails' stones, wooden poles and other objects at the policemen's direction. The participants of the rally damaged, overturned and set fire to several vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, damaged a bus of the Special Tasks Department, a fire truck, facades of buildings located on Rustaveli Avenue, and smashed shop windows.
Those who gathered on Rustaveli Avenue damaged material property owned by the Tbilisi City Hall services, among them they set fire to bins standing on the street, broke chairs and public transport waiting rooms," the Ministry of Internal Affairs statement reads.
