'System Collapse': Mass Resignations Of Enforcers In Georgia As Protest

• 5.12.2024, 16:46

Some high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have resigned.

The head of the operational planning department of the special assignments department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Irakli Shaishmelashvili, has resigned, writes newsgeorgia.ge.

He published a statement of resignation on his Facebook page. The reason for his resignation is family circumstances. Shaimshelashvili accompanied the publication with emoticons with the flags of Georgia and the European Union.

The department headed by Shaimshelashvili is engaged in planning the dispersal of protests.

After the decision of the "Georgian Dream" to refuse negotiations on joining the EU until 2028 and the start of large-scale protests, several high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have already publicly announced their resignation.

Opposition media describe what is happening as a "collapse of the system." Former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs claim that the number of those who have resigned in recent days is already in the tens.

The former head of the Batumi Coast Guard Marine Safety Department, Gocha Beridze, writes on a social network that along with Shaishmelashvili, four of his deputies resigned, as well as 16 special forces instructors, the head and 12 employees of the psychological training service, as well as the entire team of water cannon operators - 16 people.

TV Pirveli suggested that this is precisely the reason why mistakes were made in dispersing protests in recent days. For example, cameras recorded cases when water cannons were directed towards the special forces. Journalists also admit that it was precisely because of the "riot that began" on Wednesday night that demonstrators on Rustaveli were not dispersed for the first time in a week.

The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet commented on the resignations.