Hundreds hurt in clashes

MORE than 200 people were injured in a night of clashes in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, with half of them still in hospital, health official, Zaza Bokhua said yesterday.

Bokhua’s statement came soon after President Salome Zurabishvili said she was cutting short her trip to Belarus to return to Tbilisi to deal with the crisis sparked by the appearance of a Russian lawmaker inside the Georgian parliament.

People were injured after riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas and unleashed water cannons on protesters outside the parliament building. Giorgi Kordzakhiya, director of Tbilisi’s New Hospital, said two people lost eyes.

The opposition called for a new protest outside parliament yesterday, said Grigol Vashadze, who lost to Zurabishvili in the runoff, on Rustavi 2 TV.

The unrest was sparked by the scheduled appearance of Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov, a Communist Party member, at parliament as part of an assembly of legislators from Orthodox Christian countries.

The visit prompted complaints, but the anger turned into a protest after Gavrilov sat in the chair of the speaker during a session of the assembly.

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze called the public outpouring “genuine” but said the protest was hijacked by “leaders of the destructive opposition who violated the law and the constitution”.

Russian officials reacted with anger, blaming Georgian politicians trying to undermine the slow thaw in relations between the two countries. |

AP A PROTESTOR carries an injured woman during a demonstration at Georgian Parliament to call for the resignation of the speaker of the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, yesterday. |