19 January 2004, 23:36
Action of protest against Aslan Abashidze in Gonio village
On January 19, over 300 people participated in a meeting in the village of Gonio, not far from Batumi. They demanded that Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze resign and accused him of establishing a totalitarian regime on the territory of the autonomy. The action was arranged by activists of the Our Adjaria NGO, which is in opposition to the autonomy's present authorities.
Adjarian authorities sent a special operations platoon to the village to disperse the meeting, reports Georgian TV Company Rustavi 2. Several activists of Our Adjaria were beaten as a result of the attempt to disperse the people, reports Rustavi 2.
Until very recently, Our Adjaria worked in Tbilisi, explaining it by the persecution of its activists in the autonomy.
Source: Novosti-Gruzia Information Agency