**Police Brutality Continues in Georgia**
The Georgian Young Lawyers‘ Association (GYLA) has reported that special forces used excessive force against peaceful protesters on December 1-2. This included using water cannons and tear gas more than ten times.
The police also used the water cannons to block journalists from doing their work. Some of the journalists were even physically attacked and had their cameras broken. Online media journalist Giorgi Chagelashvili was arrested while working on a story.
GYLA is concerned that the special forces are not following the rules when dispersing rallies. They should be giving protesters space to leave peacefully, but instead they are surrounding them and trying to push them away. This is against human rights law.
The head of the rule of law and media freedom program at the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), Giorgi Davitauri, was also arrested.
**Ministry of Interior Accused of Committing a Crime**
GYLA says that the Ministry of Interior’s actions are “categorically incompatible with human rights”. They claim that instead of keeping people safe, the police are committing crimes. The organization is calling for an investigation into these incidents.
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