07 November 2007, 11:43
360 persons suffered in clashes with special troops in Georgia
On Wednesday, as a result of the clashes in Rustaveli Avenue and Riket Square in Tbilisi between special police units and the opposition 360 persons were injured, runs the statement of the Ministry of Public Health of Georgia.
According to the Ministry, 251 of them have already been discharged from hospital, while the remaining 109 are still kept there.
Basically, all the victims have tear gas poisoning symptoms; there are also those who got hospitalized with traumas from beatings with rubber truncheons and rubber bullets, and as a result of crowd jam.
The "New Region" reports that Koba Davitashvili, leader of the "People's Party" and one of the activists of the "united opposition" was placed into the Gori Military Hospital. The oppositionist is in a grave health condition.
Earlier, rumours were spread that Koba Davitashvili was kidnapped by unknown persons after dispersal of the opposition meeting held near the Parliament building.
The correspondent of RIA "Novosti" reports that during the dispersal of the protest action in Riket Square in Tbilisi, the supporters of Georgian opposition seized one of Georgian soldiers.
The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has reported that today in the morning the police tried to disperse the meeting by beating the protestants and using water cannons and tear gas bombs.
During the dispersal of the morning action held in front of the building of the Parliament of Georgia, three persons were detained, among them - one of the leaders of the opposition Georgiy Khaindrava, a member of the Board of the NGO "Equality Institute". The Georgian TV Channels inform that policemen took away all the cameras from the journalists, and several operators were beaten. The only camera that filmed the dispersal was the camera of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.