TBILISI, June 21. /TASS/. Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has decided to resign amid protests in the country’s capital of Tbilisi, Secretary General of the ruling ‘Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia’ party and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said at a briefing on Friday.

"Since coming to power, the Georgian Dream party has sought to achieve a high level of accountability to the people. It has repeatedly proved it by its actions. The decision to resign that Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has taken is another example of high accountability," Kaladze pointed out.

He also said that "destructive forces" responsible for violent disorder during the protests must be held accountable.

Tbilisi developments

On June 20, several thousand protesters converged on the parliament in downtown Tbilisi, demanding the resignation of the interior minister and the parliament’s speaker, and tried to storm the building. In response, police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators. According to Georgian media, dozens were detained, 240 people suffered injuries.

The protests were sparked by an uproar over a Russian State Duma delegation’s participation in the 26th session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). On Thursday morning, IAO President Gavrilov opened the session in the Georgian parliament building. Opposition lawmakers were outraged by the fact that Gavrilov addressed the event’s participants from the parliament speaker’s seat. In protest, they did not allow the IAO session to continue.

Later, a decision was taken to wrap up the session and for the Russian delegation to leave the country. Members of the ruling ‘Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia’ party said that they did not know that Gavrilov had been scheduled to open the event, claiming that the protocol office had made a mistake.