Demonstrators Protest Against Police ‘High-Handed Tactics’

Several hundred of supporters of ex-Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili demonstrated in downtown Tbilisi on November 13 to protest against, as they said, high-handed tactics the police resort to, as well as against amendments to the criminal code.

According to these amendments, which have already been passed by the Parliament with the first hearing, house arrest will be abolished and a suspect may be either remanded in pre-trial custody or released on personal guarantee or on bail. Initiating a probe into suspected crime will also be possible on the basis of a testimony by an anonymous witness, according to the amendments.

Demonstrators also protested against recent statements made by President Saakashvili and Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili who said that there should be no mercy for criminals and both of them called on police to shoot dead criminal suspects who pose a threat to society.

Salome Zourabichvili said on November 12 that “statements of this kind made by the top leadership give a ‘carte blanche’ to the policemen, which might trigger a dangerous tendency.”

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