Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Georgia

Georgian Police Break Up Azeri Protest

(RFE/RL)

23 February 2006 -- Reports from Georgia say clashes erupted on 22 February between the police and villagers in the southeastern region of Kvemo Kartli during a rally to demand access to arable land.

TEXT SIZE - +

February 23, 2006

The protesters briefly blocked a highway connecting Georgia to Armenia before police dispersed the rally.

Georgia's Rustavi-2 television says security officers assaulted two Azerbaijani reporters who were covering the protest, beating them up, and seizing their equipment. Other reports say up to 15 demonstrators were detained.

Kvemo Kartli is a predominantly Azeri region that borders Azerbaijan. The demonstrators are demanding that they and ethnic Georgians be given equal access to land.

(Rustavi 2, Civil Georgia, Lider TV)

RFE/RL Caucasus Report

SUBSCRIBE For weekly news and in-depth analysis on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia's North Caucasus by e-mail, subscribe to "RFE/RL Caucasus Report."

President Serzh Sarkisian has promised fair elections

Prospect Of Vote-Rigging Overshadows Armenian Election

The Armenian parliamentary elections due in May will not simply be a struggle between rival political parties with diverging priorities and platforms. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Former KGB head Leonid Tibilov is a presidential hopeful.

Repeat South Ossetian Election Campaign Gathers Momentum

The run-up to the repeat election on March 24 for a new de facto president of Georgia's breakaway Republic of South Ossetia bears an uncanny resemblance to last November's election campaign. More