Former minister detained at a protest against the law on "foreign agents" in Georgia
Kyiv • UNN
Former Georgian State Minister Alexi Petriashvili was detained at a protest against the law on foreign agents in Tbilisi.
Former Georgian State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Aleksi Petriashvili has been detained at a protest rally against the law on foreign agents in Tbilisi, writes UNN citing Novosti Georgia.
Details
The ekm-minister is charged with disorderly conduct and disobedience of police under the Georgia Code of Administrative Offenses.
According to Petriashvili's wife, TV host Eka Mishveladze, the politician is being held in a detention center in the capital's Digomi neighborhood. "This is an illegal detention and in general everything the police did was illegal," she said.
Petriashvili served as state minister in 2012-2014. The Free Democrats party, which he represented, was part of the ruling coalition with Georgian Dream at the time.
So far, the Georgian Interior Ministry has not named the total number of those detained at the April 28 rally.
Thousands of people took part in the rally in front of the parliament. They demanded the withdrawal of the draft law, which Georgia's Western partners call authoritarian and inspired by Russia.
The situation, as indicated, heated up after the demonstrators asked the police to hang flags of Georgia and the European Union on a stage prepared for a rally of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The structure was guarded by hundreds of patrolling police officers.
According to the newspaper, the verbal altercations turned into clashes. Interior Ministry officers used metal fences to push back protesters approaching the stage. Police sprayed pepper spray into the crowd.
Soon, special forces were reportedly put on high alert. They lined up on the side of Freedom Square, on Chichinadze and 9 April Streets adjacent to the parliament. Minor incidents and detentions of demonstrators continued. The police forces were withdrawn closer to the end of the action, at around 3 a.m.
