Protesters stormed the Putin-backed parliament in the breakaway region of Georgia

On Friday, protesters stormed the parliament of the Russian-backed government in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia and demanded the resignation of pro-Kremlin leader Aslan Bzhania.

A truck was used to break through metal gates surrounding a government building in the capital Sukhumi, and footage of the riots showed protesters climbing through windows and chanting in the halls, according to information sent to Fox News Digital by East 2. Western news outlet.

Russian officials said they were alert to a “critical situation” and urged citizens to avoid traveling to the region, Reuters reported on Friday.

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Moscow has taken a keen interest in the region given its heavy economic support since it first recognized Abkhazia, along with the region of South Ossetia, as independent from Georgia following its 2008 invasion.

Protesters initially aimed for Bzhania to withdraw an investment deal that critics say would have paved the way for wealthy Russians to buy up land in the region by ripping off local residents’ prices, reports said on Friday.

This lake photo distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik shows Aslan Bzhania, the leader of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, arriving at a reception led by the Russian President before a military parade, marking the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory. Nazi Germany in the Second World War, Moscow on June 24, 2020. (Photo by Alexy Nikolsky/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

But according to opposition leader Temur Gulia, the protest has turned into a demand for Bzhania to step down from the presidency, which he has held since 2020, Reuters reported.

It is not believed that he was in the parliament building when they were ambushed.

It is reported that the president’s administration said in a statement that the authorities were preparing to cancel the investment agreement, but another leader of the opposition, Eshsou Kakalia, is adamant that the protesters will not leave until Bzhania is quick.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a session of the Eastern Economic Forum series in Vladivostok, Russia on September 5, 2024. (Kirill Kazachkov/Roscongress Foundation via Reuters.)

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If Bzhania were to step down, he would be the third leader to do so in Abkhazia since 2008.

“The Abkhazians do not want to rejoin Georgia,” said Will Stewart of East 2 West News on Fox News Digital. “They fought a bloody war against this, anyway, or their fathers did.

“But they also don’t want their culture and a different way of life that has been conquered by the very rich Russians who buy it. And this is dangerous now,” he added.

Stewart explained that Western sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine may have prompted wealthy Russians to turn to the beaches of Abkhazia for new tourist destinations, but this is being met with opposition from locals.

Reports in late August 2008 suggested that separatist supporters in the regions were fighting for Moscow’s recognition, and it is unclear whether there has been a change in attitude towards the Kremlin following its invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.

Most of the world’s nations do not recognize the rebel region as separate from Georgia, and Moscow’s decision to do so under former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sparked outrage from then-President George W. Bush, who said the move was “innocuous.”

Abkhazia erupts in protests as parliament debates a Russian property deal, fueling fears of Moscow’s control, November 15, 2024. (Photo courtesy of East 2 West News)

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Similarly, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued that it violated “the UN’s understanding of the principle of territorial integrity and fundamental international rights” and said it was “unacceptable.”

The move, which came weeks after Russia invaded Georgia, marked a major shift in post-Cold War cooperation between the West and Russia.

But despite the strong condemnation of Western leaders in 2008, the Western response to the violation of Georgia’s territorial integrity paved the way for Russia’s non-stop invasion of Ukraine, first in 2014 and again in 2022.