Students in Georgia demonstrating against prison violence
TBILISI. Sept 24 (Interfax) - A group of students on Monday continued a hunger strike in Tbilisi that they began two days before, demanding punishment for the perpetrators of torture and rape at one of the Georgian capital's prisons, while another student demonstration demanded the removal of the defense minister, holding him partially responsible for the jail violence.
A large crowd of students gathered outside the main building of Ivane Javakhishvili State University in Tbilisi and marched to the Defense Ministry, stopping in front of the ministry building and demanding the dismissal and prosecution of the minister, Dimitri Shashkin.
A while ago, Shashkin was minister in charge of the prison system, and the demonstrators claimed that the outrages at Tbilisi's Gldani Prison, which came to light last Tuesday, and alleged violence in other jails, were partially his fault.
From the Defense Ministry, the demonstrators moved over to the House of Justice to show solidarity with the hunger-strikers, who were holding their action outside the building.
"We will continue our protests until all our demands are satisfied," a member of a student action committee, Alexander Kobaidze, told reporters.
There were mass youth protests in the cities of Kutaisi and Batumi as well, Georgian media said.
