In Georgia, thousands of opposition supporters have continued their protests for the fifth consecutive day, demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgian opposition leader, Nino Burjanadze says that the country's future would be determined on Wednesday, promising to occupy another central square in the capital of Tbilisi after five days of protests, AFP reported.
The supporters of Burjanadze are hoping to enjoy the same success as other countries in the Arab Spring.
Demonstrators have blocked the city's main street near the Parliament chanting anti-government slogans.
Georgians are protesting against the government's failure to improve the living conditions as well as the country's unemployment rate.
The fifth day of protests comes a day before the government's plans to carry out a military parade marking Georgia's Independence Day on Thursday.
The country's former defense minister's arrest helped spark mass protests after he turned against the Georgian president in 2007.
The opposition National Assembly has accused officials of detaining scores of government opponents and seizing hundreds of activists' cars before the rallies.
The Georgian interior ministry, however, said the allegations were "completely untrue."
Source: Press TV, 25 May 2011
Police used “excessive” and “disproportionate” force while dispersing protest rally outside the Parliament, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Transparency International Georgia, said in a joint statement.
“Even if the decision of dispersal of the demonstration had been legitimate, video footages disseminated through various media sources clearly show use of excessive force by police,” the statement reads.
“These facts of violence could not be left without legal assessment and adequate investigation. Relying on the information disseminated by media sources, dispersal of manifestation was followed by disproportionate use of force, beating of detained demonstrators, who did not show resistance towards police,” the two watchdog groups said. “On the basis of the above-mentioned, according to GYLA and TI-Georgia there are signs of excessive use of force and crimes committed by police.”
The statement also notes about the cases when the journalists were either attacked or hindered to perform their duties. Several Georgian journalists reported about police physically assaulted them; some reported that their either video camera or memory card of photo camera were seized. A journalist from the Georgian news agency, InterPressNews, was arrested by the police; he was later released.
Source: Civil Georgia, 26 May 2011