21 July 2007, 11:18
Residents of dismantled apartment house in the capital of Georgia hold protest actions
In Tbilisi, under decision of the mayoralty of the capital, the authorities continue dismantling a new 13-storied apartment house erected in the city centre.
The dismantling process was accompanied by protest actions of the residents. At first, they locked themselves in their apartments and did not let representatives of the supervisory service of the Tbilisi mayoralty in. On July 20, another part of the residents of the house went out and blocked the traffic in Rustaveli Avenue. Subsequently, the action was dispersed.
At present, all the tenants have been driven out of the building, and the workers are dismantling window and door units and internal walls of the upper floors of the building.
David Avaliani, deputy head of the supervisory service of the capital's mayoralty, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent: "We gave ten day to several families, who have moved in despite the fact that the dwelling house was not commissioned, to leave the building. The deadline for their moving out was the 5th of July."
According to his version, currently the capital's mayoralty holds negotiations with apartment owners on payment compensations to them.
In their turn, the residents of the house have appealed against the mayoralty's decision to the court, however, the latter rejected their demand to stop dismantling the building.
"At night we were unable to protest the court's decision at the appeal court. And before we do it, they, most likely, will manage to dismantle the building," advocate Dmitri Gabuniya said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
Part of the house tenants spent the night of July 21 in the street. Many of them, especially elderly people, felt bad, invalids also remained outdoors. Then, late at night the representatives of the supervisory service started to let people in one by one so that they could take out their furniture and all their belongings.
"We hear about compensations for the first time. Nobody gave us ten days as David Avaliani says. They just came in the morning and declared that we should abandon our apartments by the evening. ...Moreover, Avaliani tells one story before TV cameras, while in private conversations with us he said that the mayoralty has no money to pay out compensations," Teimuraz Spartakishvili, a resident of the house, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
There is unofficial information that the building falls within the interest area of the Kempinski Group, which is planning to build a Kempinski Hotel in this very place.
Author: Edita Badasian, CK correspondent