The protest of rally participants in the vicinity of the Parliament building completely wend beyond the norms defined by the law on assembly and expression and evolved into violence.
Participants of the rally have a full opportunity to express their protest in a peaceful environment, however, the public can clearly see through various TV broadcasts that the gathered individuals are massively violating the public order. Participants of the rally threw pyrotechnics in the direction of the building of the legislative body. In addition, with stones and various objects, they damaged windows of one of the offices located on the frontal and side facades of the Parliament. Herewith, ignited objects were thrown towards the legislative body, as a result of which a fire broke out in several rooms of the parliament building, which has been extinguished as of now.
Herewith, the participants of the rally damaged the protective iron barriers of the legislative building, followed by periodic attempts to damage the entrance gate to the parliament and break into the courtyard of the legislative building. Violent groups erected artificial barriers on the traffic roadway using various objects and damaged material property owned by Tbilisi city hall.
In addition, due to pyrotechnics applied, fired by the participants of the rally, one employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs received burns during the ongoing protest.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs once again calls on each participant of the rally to express protest peacefully and follow the legal instructions of the law enforcement officers on the spot.
In case if rally participants ignore the instructions of the law enforcement officers and continue to act against the law, continue to damage the parliament building, set fire and carry on other violent actions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be forced to resort to all special means defined by law and disrupt the rally.
