One of the leaders of the anti-occupation movement, Davit Katsarava, says that there is a calm situation in Davit Gareji for the time being, but yesterday, there was a clash between the local population and the Azerbaijani border guards.

Davit Katsarava told InterPressNews that the Azerbaijani border guards have taken icons out the monasteries of Gareji Udabno (desert) and handed them over to the Georgian border guards. Davit Katsarava also says that the Azeri border guards use the monastic cells as toilets.

“Now we are patrolling and we want arrive at the Chichkhituri temple to find out the situation. The Azerbaijani border guards took the icons out the desert monasteries 4-5 days ago, but unfortunately, the government has not given a relevant response to this fact. I feel a bit inconvenient when saying this, but as it seems, the Azeri border guards use the monastic cells as toilets, it's a confirmed information. The existed situation has caused protest of local population. An incident took place yesterday, locals arrived in Udabno Monastery and there was a clash. Our border guards did everything to defuse the situation,” Katsarava said.