Tuesday, August 13 2013

Tbilisi. Tasked by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S.-based
Densus Group analyzed and prepared a report on the actions of the Georgian MoI
units during the dispersal of the opposition's rally in Tbilisi center, on May
26, 2011 - Georgian Free Zone NGO reported on Monday, August 12.

A protest rally of the People's Assembly
(led by ex-speaker of Georgian Parliament, Nino Burjanadze) was dispersed using
water jets, tear gas and batons, overnight on May 26. For five days, rally
participants demanded resignation of country's president, Mikheil Saakashvili
and were going to disrupt the troops review on Georgia's Independence Day - May
26. The riot police started operation upon expiry of the term of the People's
Assembly application for holding the rally.

Densus Group is one of the leaders in the
sphere of riot police training and assessment.

               "The
document has not been published until now, since it did not aim at propaganda
or rising public awareness. The aim of this document was to assess the actions
of the police administration and certain units. The reason this document has
been released now is that police actions on May 26, 2011 have become a subject
to judicial proceedings," the Free Zone NGO said.

The NGO has published part of the report.

               In
particular, according to the document, during the rally the protesters used
metal fencing, tied to the streetlight columns with wire cables, which,
according to the Densus Group, "was a direct provocation on part of the
protesters."

As the Densus Group pointed out, before
then beginning of the operation the protesters had been offered to change the
rally venue.       

"The operation started when one group
of policemen cut the wire cable and removed the fencing set by the protesters
on the southern side of the parliament building, so that the rally participants
could leave the rally venue. Afterwards, the main police forces advanced from
the north.  About 200 out of approximately
1000 people, who were outside the parliament building, offered resistance to
the police. The protesters were armed with batons and shields. There are
evidence proving that some of them had Molotov cocktails. There were reports
that some of them were legally carrying firearms," the NGO cited Densus
Group's report.

The document also touches upon the
incident at the Freedom Square. Namely, as it is pointed out in the document,
"several cars, owned by rally organizers and their guard, advanced towards
the Freedom Square and ran into the SWAT team, which was moving in the opposite
direction and that aimed to arrest the violators."

"The vehicles did not stop and passed
through the police rows. As a result one police officer and one civilian died,
five more policemen were injured," reads the report.

Densus Group believes that 'a tactical
plan of the operation was quite comprehensive."

               "There
was a de-escalation plan. The resources, including the non-lethals, used by the
riot police, were quite adequate to the projected risks," the document
reads.

               At
the same time, Densus Group claims that excessive use of force by certain
groups of police officers was also the case.

               "What
causes concern is the aggressive action of certain riot police officers with no
particular need. Though, on May 26, the majority of officers acted in a
disciplined manner, fulfilled their commanders' orders and used proportional
and necessary force for the fulfillment of their objectives," the
organization concluded.

According to the early reports, four
people died during the dispersal of the opposition's protest rally in Tbilisi,
overnight on May 26, 2011. Two policemen were knocked down by the opposition
leader's escort vehicles.  Two more
people, whose bodies were found on the roof of a one-storey shop, according to
the investigation, were killed by electric shock.