Police Dispersed Demonstration in Kvakhvreli

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

On October 3, population of the Gori municipality village of Kvakhvreli held protest demonstration. They blocked the Kvakhvreli-Uplistsikhe bridge to protest the suspended infrustructural works in the village. Namely, they protested suspended rehabilitation of the drinking water system and the gasification process; the protesters demanded arrival of the Gori municipality governor Davit Oniashvili in the village. 

“They dug the roads and left in similar conditions since December 2016. The district governor could not find 20 minutes to come here and answer our questions,” the demonstrators said. 

Law enforcement officers arrived at the site of the protest demonstrations and ordered the protesters to unblock the bridge within half an hour because the tourists, heading to Uplistsikhe, had to wait for them for several hours. After the protesters did not go away, the police tried to disperse them that turned into a physical controversy between the population and police officers. Three locals were arrested for disobedience and minor hooliganism. Among the arrested people was the single mandate candidate of the Georgian Dream Davit Aduashvili. The court released all three detainees under the administrative bail.

Gori municipality governor Davit Oniashvili said he will meet the Kvakhvreli population in near future. He said the rehabilitation works were suspended because the contractor company violated the contract conditions and they intend to announce a new tender. 

“I will personally meet and inform them why the works were suspended. Today, we are reviewing the last tender applications and we will resume rehabilitation works,” Oniashvili said.

Davit Oniashvili, who is acting district governor and mayoral candidate of the Movement for Construction, said the protest demonstration was part of the smear campaign against him, which is launched by the local organization of the Georgian Dream. He said the single mandate candidate of the ruling party also participated in the protest. The Gori organization of the Georgian Dream denies the accusations of the former team member. 

Davit Oniashvili was candidate of the Georgian Dream during the 2014 local self-government elections and won it. Now, he is the mayoral candidate of the Movement for Construction. 

Oniashvili was the only district governor among five municipal governors in Shida Kartli region who had bad relations with the regional governor but the situation was getting worse and worse. Several days ago, Davit Oniashvili said that acting regional governor Kakha Samkharadzze and MP Dito Samkharadze demanded him in December 2016 to quit the position. Neither the regional governor nor the MP confirmed the accusation.