Epress.am News from Armenia
“President Saakashvili, Don’t Kill the Press!” are the words printed, in Georgian and in English, on the front page of almost all Georgian newspapers today.
The papers Kviris Palitra, Resonance, Asaval Dasavali, Versya (“version”), Akhali Taoba and Khronika (“chronicle”) choose this form of protest against the demolition of newsstands in Tbilisi, asking Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to suspend this process, reports Newcaucasus.com.
According to Kviris Palitra, only a few of the 140–150 kiosks in Tbilisi remain. The rest are expected to be dismantled before the end of this year.
Head of the local press association Lasha Tugushi and several other experts regard the campaign to dismantle newsstands as pressure on the media.
“This is unacceptable! It’s clear that the motive for this is the government’s political crisis. There has never been such a reactionary attack on independent media, and it is directly linked to the upcoming elections,” he said.
Recall, within the framework of the “1,000 Kiosks” program, Tbilisi City Hall announced an auction which is concerning mainly those lands on which there are newsstands.