A protest planned at the residence of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of “Georgian Dream” (Kartuli Otsneba), will not take place. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has denied the participants permission to hold the gathering in the Sololaki district. On May 6, the organizers had planned to support parents of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who are demanding that their children be provided with life-saving medications.
“We submitted two applications to hold the protest at Bidzina Ivanishvili’s residence: one as a spontaneous gathering, and the second as a pre-planned one. Regarding the spontaneous protest, we were told that it shouldn’t be planned a day in advance, but that we should go out as soon as we get angry. Regarding the planned protest, they replied that people live, work, and move around there, and we shouldn’t disturb them—go somewhere else… Please explain to me, who lives, works, and moves there whose peace is more important than the lives of 100 children?!” wrote Kakha Tsikarishvili, one of the protest organizers and a parent.
“When he came out and said, ‘People, trust me once more, I will take responsibility,’ we thought that perhaps this information simply hadn’t reached him, that he didn’t know what was happening. We wanted to come and convey our request, our plea, the cry of desperate parents, so that he would understand the situation we are in. The Minister of Health does not come to the parents, and none of the responsible officials come out to talk to us,” TV Pirveli quoted one of the parents as saying.
Parents of children with Duchenne disease plan to go to the Patriarchate on May 6 to ask for a blessing for their children. They state that they will appeal to all possible authorities and use every available mechanism to secure the necessary medications.
A meeting with the Ombudsman (Public Defender) is also planned.
Parents have been holding protest rallies for several weeks. They are demanding that the “Georgian Dream” authorities provide funding and ensure the availability of the relevant drugs.
Last night, the protesters also stayed outside the government administration building in the open air.
Parents of children with Duchenne disease protest in Tbilisi