“Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to strip us of our right to expression—we will continue the fight! The continuous process that has been sustained for a year will definitely continue! Yesterday’s events once again showed that the people have no intention of backing down,” said Vano Tsereteli, a member of the “Coalition for Change,” during an appearance on PalitraNews’ program “Day’s Newsroom.”
According to him, during the protest rally on Rustaveli Avenue yesterday, an “uncivilized police force” was at work.
“No matter how the so-called Prime Minister evaluates it, no matter what he fabricates or invents, the law did not function yesterday. What functioned was an uncivilized, arrogant, and excessive police force on Rustaveli Avenue. There is footage showing how they detained and dragged Vazha Gaprindashvili, a very important person and doctor, into a car while insulting him—‘Get in the car, you doctor…’ followed by obscene language. For these people, nothing seems to matter,” Tsereteli stated.
He said he agrees with the opinion of the fifth President, Salome Zurabishvili, that there are two Georgias: citizens defending their European future and criminal groups fighting for power.
“The only basis for what we have seen so far, and what we saw last night from the demonstrators on Rustaveli Avenue, is that Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to bury freedom in Georgia. Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to deprive us of our right to democratic expression. Therefore, these people are doing everything within the constitutional framework to preserve this voice. We will continue the fight; the continuous process that has been sustained for a year will definitely continue. Yesterday clearly showed that the people have no intention of backing down,” Tsereteli stated.
According to him, the detention of protest participants does not weaken the protests, and a clear example of this is Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement today. Tsereteli believes the protests should become more diverse.
“The main basis for detaining people is not blocking the road. Yesterday, the police abducted and detained even those who were not standing in the street but on the sidewalk. Therefore, we cannot decipher the police’s reasons for when and why they detain people. We must do our job, confront daily with entirely new methods, with decisions made on the spot or with pre-planned strategies, what we call Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Russian regime,” Tsereteli stated.
In addition to this issue, he commented on the SSS statement that former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, during his questioning, “admitted to the fact of receiving illegal income over the years.”
“The state system that Bidzina Ivanishvili is building is the so-called mafia state, and Mr. Gharibashvili’s admission is clear confirmation and the main argument for this. Gharibashvili did not merely admit to being involved in corruption or engaging in a single corrupt deal with someone. He admitted that since 2012, when he served as Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Defense Minister, and again Prime Minister, this system operated in only one direction—the creation of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s financial empire, built on ‘black money’ and a corrupt system of obtaining funds,” Tsereteli stated.
Vano Tsereteli: The basis for detaining citizens is not blocking the road – Yesterday, the police abducted even those standing on the sidewalk – Yesterday, the law didn’t work, an arrogant and excessive police force did
