Georgian Population in South Ossetia Protest Shootouts

The ethnic Georgian population of the Didi Liakhvi gorge in breakaway South Ossetia held a protest rally on October 19 and blocked the road connecting the capital of the unrecognized republic, Tskhinvali, and Java, town in northern South Ossetia. The Georgian population protested against, as they say, the ?everyday shelling of Georgian villages.? 
 
Georgian television reported quoting one of the Georgian residents of the Didi Liakhvi gorge as saying that ?shots are [regularly] fired from the positions controlled by the South Ossetian side.? But the latter accuses the Georgian side of opening fire.

A meeting of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), involving Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian representatives, will be held in Tskhinvali on October 20.

The Russian Foreign Ministry?s special ambassador Valery Kenyaikin, who represents Russia at the JCC and Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava, who represents the Georgian side in the JCC, visited the conflict zone on October 19.