Police Use Water Cannon In Georgia After Crowds Protest Elections

Police officers in Tblisi, the capital of Georgia, have deployed and used water cannons to quell unrest after elections in late October.

Several thousand people are understood to have congregated at the nation’s Central Election Commission after word spread of a poll rigged by officials.

The crowds were demanding a new vote take place even while international observers deployed in the country to monitor the elections confirmed that “fundamental freedoms were respected.”

Some aspects of the election were still criticised by the same observers which in part led the protestors in Tblisi to also demand the nation’s chief of police and entire election commission be replaced.

The observers were deployed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and in their post-election reports, comments noted that “pervasive allegations of pressure on voters and blurring of the line between the ruling party and the state reduced public confidence in some aspects of the process”

The ruling party in Georgia for the past eight years has been headed by a self made billionaire named Bidzina Ivanishvili who heads the political party Georgian Dream.

Mr. Ivanishvili served as Georgia’s prime minister from late 2012 to late 2013.