Russian journalists beaten up in Georgia

Russia Today reports:

A crew from Russia’s First TV Channel has been beaten up in the Georgian capital Tbilisi while filming a protest rally at the country's parliament building.

Reporter Maksim Bobrov said the men, wearing camouflage uniforms, “most likely represented some kind of a law enforcement body”.

”We were filming in the city centre at the parliament building where refugees from South Ossetia held their meeting”, he explained.

“We were cut short by some people who took away our camera and materials. The cameraman and the sound engineer were beaten up. We managed to get our camera back but not what we had filmed,” Bobrov said.

The journalist said: “President Saakashvili gave assurances that restrictions would not be imposed either on Georgian or foreign journalists”.

It’s also reported that in the conflict zone itself, another Russian TV-crew, belonging to the NTV channel, came under fire.

On Saturday, three journalists from the state owned Rossiya channel were wounded in shooting in South Ossetia along with a correspondent from Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Video report and footage here.