Protesters storm parliament in breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia, demand president's resignation over Russia investment deal

Protesters stormed the parliament of the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia on Friday and opposition politicians demanded the resignation of the self-styled president over an unpopular investment agreement with Moscow.

Protesters used a truck to smash through the metal gates surrounding the parliament in the capital Sukhumi. Video from the scene then showed people climbing through windows after prying off metal bars and chanting in the corridors.

An opposition leader, Temur Gulia, told Reuters that their initial demand was to scrap the agreement, but now protesters wanted to go further.

“The people demand the resignation of Aslan Bzhania and categorically intend to achieve it,” said Gulia.

“We ourselves were not prepared for this turn of events. Our initial demand was only the withdrawal of the investment agreement.”

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Protesters also broke into the presidential administration offices located in the same building as the parliament. Emergency services said at least nine people were taken to hospital.

Bzhania, who became president in 2020, was not in the complex, Russia’s TASS state agency reported. His office did not immediately respond to a question from Reuters about Bzhania’s whereabouts on Friday.

The presidential administration said in a statement that authorities were preparing to withdraw the investment agreement with Russia that some people in Abkhazia fear will price them out of the property market.

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Russia recognised Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states in 2008 after Russian troops repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a five-day war.

Most of the world recognises Abkhazia as part of Georgia, from which it broke away during wars in the early 1990s, but Russian money has poured into the lush sub-tropical territory where Soviet-era spa resorts cling to the Black Sea coast.

Russian money

Abkhazian lawmakers had been set to vote on Friday on the ratification of an investment agreement signed in October in Moscow by Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov and his Abkhazian counterpart, Kristina Ozgan.

Abkhazian opposition leaders say the agreement with Moscow, which would allow for investment projects by Russian legal entities, would price locals out of the property market by allowing far more Russian money to flow in.

Russia said on Friday it was following the “crisis situation” in Abkhazia with concern and urged its citizens to avoid travel there. Russia is Abkhazia’s largest trading partner.

The opposition said in a statement that the protesters’ actions were not against Russian-Abkhazian relations, but charged that Bzhania “has been trying to use these relations for his own selfish interests, manipulating them for the sake of strengthening his regime.”

“Abkhazian society had only one demand: to protect the interests of our citizens and our business,” it said.

Earlier this week Bzhania held an emergency security council meeting after protesters rallied in central Sukhumi to demand the release of four activists who had been detained for protesting against a law referencing the Moscow agreement.

In 2014, demonstrators stormed the presidential headquarters, forcing then-leader Alexander Ankvab to flee. He later resigned over accusations of corruption and misrule.

Opposition leader Raul Khadzhimba, elected following the unrest in 2014, was himself forced to step down in 2020 after street protests over disputed election results.