Georgian President meets protest leader; Protesters increase demands

  02 June 2018    Read: 2643
Georgian President meets protest leader; Protesters increase demands

Georgian President Georgi Margvelashvili has met with the leader of a protest in central Tbilisi a day after chief prosecutor Irakli Shotadze resigned and demonstrators increased their demands for the entire government to step down.

Thousands of protesters first took to the streets late on May 31, angered by what they said was political influence in the trial of two youths allegedly involved in a double killing last year.

Rallies continued into the evening of June 1 in the capital, with tents being set up outside the parliament building.

Georgian television stations aired live coverage of protest leaders addressing the crowd in front of the parliament, with journalists reporting that traffic was blocked on Rustaveli Avenue, the main Tbilisi thoroughfare.

Protester anger initially centered on the trial of suspects allegedly involved in the murder of Davit Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili, both aged 16, who were killed in a brawl between students from two different schools.

Zaza Saralidze, the father of one of the dead teens, led the protests and has insisted that people other than the two suspects who were put on trial were responsible for his son's death.

Out of the two teenage boys put on trial for the killings, one was found guilty on May 31 of killing Dadunashvili, while the second was convicted only of attempting to murder Saralidze.

 

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty


More about: Georgia  


News Line