Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze responds to the developments on Rustaveli Avenue. 

According to the secretary general of the Georgian Dream, police showed high professionalism and acted in a qualified manner, restored order and brought the processes back into the law.

As Kaladze said, the organizers of the protest rally tried to aggregate the situation and turned the process into destructive, illegal actions.

“We would like to respond to the recent developments on Rustaveli Avenue and to the police measure. Freedom of speech and expression is protected in Georgia, though the actions of the opposition went beyond the law.

We were warning protesters within two days that blocking the state institution, parliament, was an illegal action, however, after feeling the lack of support from the society, the rally organizers tried to aggregate the situation and turned the process into destructive, illegal actions.

Since this morning, these people continued to illegally block state institutions, assaulting lawmakers and, despite a small number of protesters, blocked the roads, severely violating the law. Despite numerous warnings from the MIA, calls from the authorities as well as from the international partners, the opposition leaders have refused to return to the constitutional framework.

Consequently, the State fulfilled its obligation and prevented the illegal blocking of the Parliament. Police showed high professionalism and acted in a qualified manner, restored order and brought the processes back into the law. For this, we would like to thank each law enforcement officer”, - concluded Kakha Kaladze.