(Illustration: Dato Parulava/ OC Media)
A pitched battle between protesters and riot police in Georgia’s Pankisi Valley has undone years of work to build trust with a community that has been historically marginalised. The government needs to prioritise a more participatory approach to regional development over business interests.
Riot police in Birkiani in Pankisi Valley (Sulkhan Bordzikashvili /Facebook)
Riot police have deployed rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters in northeast Georgia’s Pankisi Valley after local residents tried to prevent the resumption of work on a hydropower plant in the valley.
Natia Kapanadze (Adjara TV)
Natia Kapanadze has been dismissed from her position as director of Adjara TV, a public broadcaster in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, after four out of five members of the channel’s Advisory Board passed a motion of no confidence against her. Kapanadze has pledged to appeal the board’s decision in court.
Giorgi Kobulia (Ministry of Economy)
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has dismissed Giorgi Kobulia as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, after appointing him just nine months ago. [Read more…]
Shota Kincha is a staff writer at OC Media.
On the eve of the 19 May by-elections in eight municipalities and for a parliamentary seat in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda District, the Georgian Dream party, chaired by Georgia’s informal ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili, faces a potential new rival that could potentially mobilise the party’s estranged base — the Tbilisi elite. [Read more…]
Panorama Tbilisi. (Natia Amiranashvili/Liberali)
Three people have been injured working on the construction of Georgia’s controversial Panorama Tbilisi project. Video footage from immediately after the accident showed that safety rules were not being followed on the site. [Read more…]
Vitali Safarov (Facebook)
Two men accused of murdering 25-year-old human rights activist Vitali Safarov will remain in custody, Tbilisi City Court has ruled as dozens of people held a peaceful rally outside the court in support of Safarov. [Read more…]
Natia Kapanadze (Facebook)
NGOs and opposition parties have said they fear media freedom might be at risk after two members of Adjara TV’s Board of Advisors requested that the channel’s director, Natia Kapanadze, be impeached. [Read more…]
(Rustavi2)
Hundreds of taxi drivers took to the streets on Thursday to protest new taxi regulations introduced by the Tbilisi City Hall, which among other things, requires drivers to paint their cars white. The drivers rode together through Tbilisi beeping their horns stopping outside the residence of Georgian Dream chair and former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili. [Read more…]
Friday prayer at Batumi's Orta mosque. Worshipers pray in the street outside the mosque. (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
A court in the city of Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, has begun considering a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslims against the city authorities over their refusal to grant a construction permit for a mosque. [Read more…]
