This Friday, demonstrators who were protesting in front of the parliamentary seat threw a truck against the security fence of the venue, despite the fact that law enforcement officers tried to prevent it, according to the news agency.

Despite the fact that the parliament building is still cordoned off by security forces, the opponents burst into the premises and demanded the resignation of the government of the small self-proclaimed republic in the South Caucasus.

Earlier, the legislative assembly postponed until next week debates on the ratification of an investment agreement with Russia, which was the first to recognize Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia in 2008.

The opposition contests the agreement, which was signed in Moscow late last October and would allow Russian companies to implement investment projects in Abkhazia.

Supporters of the document argue that the republic does not have the resources to revive key sectors of the economy on its own.

On November 11, Abkhazia’s parliament passed a rule regulating the legal status of ‘multifunctional centers’, mentioned in the investment agreement with Russia.

Dissatisfied with the event, several opposition activists assaulted a deputy and were detained; their arrest triggered mass protests the next day and blockades of the main bridges and roads into Sukhumi, but the activists were eventually released.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia, former Georgian territories, proclaimed their secession from Tbilisi shortly before the breakup of the USSR in 1991.

At the end of August 2008, Moscow recognized the independence of both former Georgian autonomies.

The independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is also recognized by Nauru, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Syria.

ef/abo/mem/gfa