Bloody Shootout Triggers Debates on Police Violence

Two criminal suspects were killed and one was badly injured as a result of a police operation in downtown Tbilisi on May 2.

Police opened fire on a car after the suspects refused to surrender, officials said. Chief of the Interior Ministry?s Criminal Police Irakli Kadagidze said that the police operation was necessary to prevent a planned robbery by the suspects.

The daytime incident in downtown Tbilisi has again triggered debates over police violence ? an issue which has often been a source of criticism of the Interior Ministry.

MP Elene Tevdoradze of the ruling National Movement party who chairs the parliamentary committee for human rights said that the incident should be probed in order to find out whether adequate force was used by the police.

?If they [the police] knew in advance that a burglary was planned, why was it necessary to carry out this police operation in a place where there were lots of people. Why are police operations carried out in such a way, which triggers so many questions among society,? MP Tevdoradze said.

The opposition has also criticized the Interior Minister. ?Tbilisi has turned into a police firing range,? MP Mamuka Katsitadze of the opposition New Rights party said on May 2.

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