Mass protests in Georgia after Russian lawmaker’s speech

Around ten thousand protestors surrounded the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi on Thursday, in response to a visiting Russian lawmaker being allowed to deliver a speech from the seat of the parliament speaker.

More than sixty police and protestors were hospitalized as the rally was repulsed with tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent the protestors from storming the parliament.

Opposition MPs called the protests, which in turn call for speaker Irakli Kobakhidze’s resignation.

Tensions have been high between Georgia and Russia for over a decade, since the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were occupied by Russia, which recognizes them as independent but stations Russian troops in each.

The Georgian protestors saw the speech given by Russian lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov, and his use of the government leader’s seat, as an occupying nation’s official displaying dominance over their own native government.

Gavrilov was addressing the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, which manages relations between various lawmakers of the Christian Orthodox faith.