Opposition Raided in Batumi
The opposition movement Our Adjara’s offices were raided in Adjarian capital Batumi on February 20, after the opposition staged a protest rally in Batumi.
Earlier the supporters of Aslan Abashidze clashed with the opposition.
Our Adjara’s Tbilisi office issued a statement saying that Aslan Abashidze is personally responsible for the violence that took place in Adjara on February 20.
“In these conditions it is impossible to hold the pre-election campaign in Adjara,” Edward Surmanidze, one of the leaders of Our Adjara said at a news briefing on February 20 in Tbilisi.
Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Vano Merabishvili said today, while commenting on violence in Adjara that the law enforcement agencies “know all the persons, who masterminded these clashes and raid on the opposition offices.”
“Every one behind this violence will be strictly punished,” Vano Merabishvili added.
The clashes between the supporters and opposition of the Adjarian leader took place, while the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Walter Schwimmer, who arrived in Batumi this morning, was holding talks with Aslan Abashidze. Later he met with the opposition leaders in Adjara.
“There is no alternative to the negotiations. I advise opposition and authorities to hold talks,” Walter Schwimmer told reporters after the meeting with the opposition representatives.
