Demand an answer from the EU Ambassador about Mrs Aza – no one will look after our country except our own people, if we ourselves don’t take care of our country. You see what they’re doing, they just sacrifice people. They’re using her as a roadside tool so that lots of people break the law, then the law responds, then Rasa Juknevičienė writes them into resolutions and Euro-parliamentarians and some ambassador shed crocodile tears – that’s how Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili assesses the detention of 71-year-old Aza Chilachava at the protest.

According to Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian authorities are acting justly and humanely.

“Of course the Georgian authorities cannot allow 50 people to impose their will on a city of one-and-a-half million, and you see the discontent in society towards these empty actions and radicalism, whose main moment was the 4 October storming of the President’s Palace; the same people are now once again trying to go round the same circle that must end with the storming of some building, and all this is part of it. So the authorities are acting justly, humanely, including in cases where a humane decision is needed regarding detained persons on health grounds; you see that the Prosecutor’s Office reacts adequately.

As for responsibility, the first reaction anyone should have – you, the media, can write to Finland’s Foreign Minister who came here pretending she wanted meetings with the authorities, then after the meeting went and blocked Rustaveli Avenue; Finland’s Foreign Minister, the acting OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, was a participant in all of this,” Papuashvili said.

To the journalist’s remark that Finland’s Foreign Minister did not block Rustaveli Avenue, Papuashvili replies that whoever stands as the 21st person on a street blocked by 20 people is also blocking that street.

“Look at the video where Mrs Mekantsshvili was organising a repeat storming of the President’s Palace; Finland’s Foreign Minister, under the OSCE Chairperson mandate, went up to that person, took part in the blocking, praised the blocking of Rustaveli, praised the violent people who were planning to seize the President’s Palace, praised radicalism and encouraged them: tomorrow, the day after, and every day let twenty of you block Rustaveli Avenue. That was the main message. It is precisely her merit that a 71-year-old person, carried away by this wave – when Aza Chilachava saw Finland’s Foreign Minister supporting them, encouraged by that, apparently took part in blocking the road, for which there is corresponding legal responsibility. So moral and political responsibility lies with Finland’s Foreign Minister, with the EU Ambassador who has not uttered a sound about the 4 October storming, has not condemned the 4 October storming with a single word, and they approve, they express solidarity with the radicals. Responsibility lies with the European Commission spokesperson who expressed solidarity with the radicals, the fifty people who block the street. This is the result: people then follow their encouragement, their calls, and take part in law-breaking. So demand the answer from the EU Ambassador about Mrs Aza. As for the state, the state is acting justly and humanely. It is important that law and order be maintained and the law enforced,” Papuashvili declared.