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SUKHUMI, Georgia — Demonstrators in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia have stormed the building housing the de facto presidential administration, demanding the resignation of the separatist region’s leader, Raul Khadzhimba.
An RFE/RL correspondent in the regional capital said dozens of protesters broke into the building on January 9, breaking almost all of the windows on the first floor while hundreds more outside chanted “Khadzhimba, Go Away!”
Khadzhimba was not thought to be in the building during the incident.
The protesters had first gathered in front of the building of the breakaway region’s de facto Supreme Court, which was scheduled to hear opposition presidential candidate Alkhas Kvitsinia’s appeal against a lower court’s decision to recognize the results of a September “presidential election” won by Khadzhimba.
Minor clashes between pro-Khadzhimba activists and their opponents took place during the rally but no injuries were reported.