Caucaz.com, Georgia
March 11 2006

Georgia: What happened in Tsalka (Kvemo Kartli)?

Tbilisi, 11 March 2006 (sources: Ombudsman Press Office, Civil
Georgia) – On March 10 representative of the Ombudsman of Georgia
will visit Tsalka and meet Tsalka Gamgebeli (Head of Local
Administration), Chief of the local Police and local population.

Yesterday, on March 9, a clash which resulted into death of one and
injury of at least one local resident in multiethnic town of Tsalka
in Kvemo Kartli region, triggered protest of local ethnic Armenians.

Police said that five suspects have already been arrested. But
protesters in Tsalka demanded lynching of suspects on March 10.

`The Interior Ministry will never allow actions of this kind,’ the
Georgian Interior Ministry stated on March 10.

The Interior Ministry said that only one local was injured, but
according to the ethnic minority advocacy group Multinational Georgia
four ethnic Armenians were wounded as a result of an attack.

According to this non-governmental organization about 500 residents
of Tsalka were demanding at the rally outside the local police
station on March 10 an immediate investigation and prosecution of
those who are guilty of this crime. The protest rally was `brutally
dispersed’ by the police, according to the Multinational Georgia.

Clashes between the locals erupt sporadically in recent years in
Tsalka district with population of 20 000. Ethnic Armenians comprise
57% of population, according to the Georgian department of
statistics. 4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic Georgians and up to
2,000 Azerbaijanis also live there.

Representative of the Ombudsman of Georgia will study the details of
the case on-site and find out, whether the clash happened on the
ground of ethnic discrimination.