Former Georgian Interior Ministry official Lasha Shergelashvili, who served as the head of the Armaments Department of the Special Operations Directorate, said on Formula TV that a banned substance was used to suppress a protest outside the Central Election Commission in 2020. When asked if he had any suspicions, he replied that he "knew for sure that it was used" as he was there at the time.
The Georgian opposition and its supporters protested yesterday against the arrival of the Astoria Grande cruise ship with Russians on board at the port of Batumi. Particularly active protesters tried to break through the police cordon, but the situation remained under control. The action was held under the slogans "Russian ship - f*** you" and "Abkhazia is Georgia."
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili supported the action. “I am proud of our people who have peacefully protested a new Russian provocation - the entry of a Russian cruise ship into the Georgian port of Batumi, while Putin is blocking grain shipments and hindering free navigation in the Black Sea. Black Sea security is vital for Georgia, Ukraine and the EU,” Zurabishvili tweeted.