Georgian riot police deploy rubber bullets and tear gas in Pankisi hydropower protest, 21 April 2019

Riot police have deployed rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters in northeast Georgia’s Pankisi Valley after local residents tried to prevent the resumption of work on a hydropower plant in the valley.

Seventeen local residents and 38 police officers required medical attention following clashes between riot police and protesters, a police statement reads. According to the statement, as of Sunday evening, 23 police remained hospitalised.

Several hundred inhabitants of the valley, which has a majority Kist population, gathered after construction work on the Khadori 3 hydropower plant (HPP) in the village of Birkiani resumed on Sunday.