A group of refugees from Abkhazia and street traders of Tbilisi held protests at the mayor’s office building, News Georgia reports.
This morning approximately 700 families of refugees from Abkhazia were evicted from a multi-storey building of the former Command Staff of the Transcaucasian military district (located in the Bake-Saburtalin region), where they lived.
The street traders of Tbilisi were protesting because the mayor’s office started taking new measures against unorganized street marketing, by closing it down on the streets and forcing the traders to move to the markets of Tbilisi. At the same time, the mayor absolved all the traders that move from the streets to markets from paying taxes until the end of 2010.
Members of the Conservative Party and the People’s Party support the protests. The head of the People’s Party, Alexander Shalamberidze, said that the Georgian authorities are being cruel to their people.
According to one of the protestors, Nani Topuriya, the police started forcing the traders out without warning or the chance to finish selling their fruit, which rots quickly.
One of Abkhazian refugees said that they were not warned about their eviction and were not told about where they would live. The compensation they received was too small and some people did not receive any.
The mayor’s office did not react to the protests.
The property of the refugees is currently being loaded onto trucks. The police are keeping order. The refugees say that they will be moved to the Abash region in western Georgia. They demand that they either be allowed to stay in Tbilisi, where they have a chance to earn money, or to be taken to their homes in Abkhazia.
Representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) monitored the situation and then left the scene, members of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) discussed the problems with the refugees and noted their opinions.
On Thursday the refugees from Abkhazia and the street traders will hold a joint protest at the residence of the Georgian president in the Avlabar district of Tbilisi.
