Ceremonial head of state Mikhail Kavelashvili is a former national team player and Manchester City footballer
Pro-Western demonstrators have taken to the streets of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, to protest the inauguration of the country’s new president, former Manchester City football player Mikhail Kavelashvili.
Kavelashvili, a representative of the People’s Party, which is part of the ruling coalition together with Georgian Dream, officially took the post of the ceremonial head of state on Sunday. “The Georgian people have always stood for peace, and we will continue this aspiration of the people,” he said during his swearing-in ceremony at the parliament building.
He was elected president by MPs earlier this month. In previous years, the ceremonial head of state had been chosen via popular vote. Georgia is a parliamentary republic, in which the prime minister and government wield executive power.
Hundreds of protesters carrying EU, NATO and US flags gathered outside the parliament building during the inauguration. Many demonstrators carried red cards in their hands and raised them in the air. The red card, which symbolizes the harshest punishment in football, is shown by a referee to a player who is being sent off from the pitch.
Kavelashvili is a former footballer, who once played for Manchester City, Dinamo Tbilisi and several other clubs in Russia and Switzerland. The 53-year-old also appeared in 46 matches and scored nine goals for the Georgian national team.
The rally in Tbilisi took place amid a heavy police presence and was mostly peaceful. A video from the scene captured only minor scuffles in the crowd, apparently between pro-EU demonstrators and supporters of the government.
Earlier on Sunday, Georgia’s outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili departed from the presidential palace. The pro-Western politician, who contested the results of the recent parliamentary election that ended with a convincing Georgian Dream party victory, had previously claimed that she would not leave the building.
"I am abandoning the residence and taking legitimacy with me. Where there are no people, there is no legitimacy,” Zourabichvili claimed, again calling for a rerun of the parliamentary vote.
Georgia has seen weeks of protests since late October, when the pro-Western opposition refused to recognize the results of the election.
READ MORE: Outgoing Georgian president refuses to leave office
The rallies turned violent earlier this month after the government announced that it would suspend accession talks with the EU, citing “constant blackmail and manipulation” of Georgian domestic politics by Brussels. There have also been multiple instances of rioters clashing with police in Tbilisi, resulting in several hundred people being detained.
