Police arrest nine protesting entry of cruise ship with Russians onboard

The Georgian law enforcement on Monday arrested nine individuals in Batumi port, country’s west, protesting the entry of the Astoria Grande cruise ship from Sochi, with Russian citizens on board. 

The police claimed the demonstrators had disobeyed the orders of the law enforcement. 

The ship ASTORIA GRANDE, on which the participants of the cruise organized by the Russian Music Channel are on board, left the port of Sochi on July 29 and entered Batumi from Trabzon, Turkey, at 05:30 on Monday. 

The protests started even before the ship’s entry, last night after the police erected barricades in the Batumi harbor.

Palau-flagged ship ASTORIA GRANDE, served by the Turkish cruise company Miray Cruises International, first entered Batumi on July 27. The ship was escorted by a protest.