Unrest erupts in southern Georgia after car fatally hits two teenagers

The death of two teenagers after being hit by a car in southern Georgia has sparked public outrage, with local residents protesting what they claimed was failure of first responders to prioritise the victims. The unrest escalated into violence, prompting a police response.

On Monday evening, a car fatally struck two teenagers — Elchin Binatov and Sinan Sharifov — near Nakhiduri, a village located 40 kilometres south of Tbilisi, between the towns of Marneuli and Bolnisi, the administrative centres of their respective municipalities in southern Georgia.

According to local media outlet 24news.ge, one of the victims died at the scene of the accident, while the other passed away after being transferred to the Aversi clinic in Marneuli. Both victims were in their late teens.

According to another local outlet Aktual.ge, two other young individuals crossing the road were severely injured in the incident and were also hospitalised.

Tensions escalated following the incident, with local residents reportedly overturning the ambulance that had arrived to provide medical assistance to the driver involved in the incident.

Some of the individuals connected to the victims and their supporters claimed that the ambulance prioritised attending to those in the car that struck the teenagers, angering the residents of the village prompting them to attack the vehicle.

An individual who claimed to have witnessed the scene told 24news.ge that after striking the minors, the driver began cursing at those who arrived at the accident site and was allegedly intoxicated.

Footage from the scene showed a crowd attempting to force their way into the ambulance, which appeared to contain medical staff and an injured individual. The footage seems to show the scene of the accident before the ambulance was overturned.

Radio Marneuli reported that some of the local residents also gathered near the Aversi clinic in Marneuli, ‘where they smashed windows and glass in the clinic’s reception area’.

Georgia’s Public Broadcaster reported that two individuals were admitted to Bolnisi Central Hospital in critical condition, apparently injured during the altercation that followed the fatal incident. The Hospital clarified on the next morning that they had discharged eight patients while treating another with ‘serious injuries’.

Later that night, the Interior Ministry confirmed deploying officers from the patrol, criminal, and special tasks departments to ‘de-escalate’ the situation after protesters overturned both the vehicle allegedly involved in the accident and the ambulance, as well as damaging and smashing the windows of nearby cars.

The ministry further stated that several of their officers sustained injuries during the confrontation, along with eight civilians who required hospitalisation.

In a subsequent statement, the Ministry announced the arrest of a driver in his early 20s, suspected of hitting the teenagers while driving with four passengers in the vehicle.

In response to the tragedy and the subsequent violence, Tamta Mikeladze of the rights group Social Justice Centre has said that ‘accidents frequently happen [there], as they have in past years’.

‘The area where the accident occurred is very unsafe. To the best of my knowledge, there are no pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, or adequate street lighting. Accidents frequently happen here, as they have in past years,’ she said.

Speaking to TV Pirveli, civil activist Samira Bayramova, who hails from Marneuli, also blamed the poor infrastructure in the area.

‘It’s a very dangerous place, with a bad curve in the road. Children are forced to walk along the highway, and these people are at risk every single day. We don’t have proper road infrastructure’, Pirveli quoted her as saying.