Georgian Parliament Suffered Heavy Damage During Protests
The Georgian parliament has been damaged to the tune of half a million lari, according to Chairman Shalva Papuashvili. This is the result of violent actions by protesters during demonstrations in November.
Papuashvili told journalists that even on live television, the violence was clear to see. However, some European diplomats called the protests “peaceful”. The chairman of parliament questioned how this could be when there were visible signs of damage and fire on camera.
The parliament’s rooms on the first floor were almost completely destroyed, along with various equipment. Papuashvili estimated that the actual damage was already over 100 thousand lari, which has been spent to address it. He believed the total cost would be around half a million lari.
Papuashvili addressed European diplomats, suggesting they use funds allocated for NGOs to compensate for the damage done to the parliament. He noted that these NGOs were behind radicalism and that some of their money could be used to cover the costs.
Papuashvili was critical of diplomats who called violent actions “peaceful”. He pointed out that attacks on police officers, throwing “Molotov cocktails”, and attempts to burn the parliament were clear evidence of violence. That these diplomats remained silent or even praised the protests as peaceful was a disgrace, according to Papuashvili.
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