Georgian police take civilians hostages

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At about 17:00 Moscow time on March 25, South Ossetian office of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces for the Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement received information, according to which about 30 citizens of South Ossetia, mainly women and children, were blocked by the Georgian police without explaining a reason at an illegal Georgian police post in Ergneti village. The Georgian police commented that they received instruction from their seniors to prevent Ossetians' entering Tskhinvali.

The South Ossetian side to JPF Joint Control Commission immediately informed of the incident the JPF command and Tskhinval office of OSCE mission in Georgia.

The peacekeepers, for their part, informed that the illegal Georgian police post in the Avnevi village blocked motor traffic through the settlement.

Georgian police also cut off other communications within the reach of Georgia's interior ministry's posts. A source at the OSCE mission's Tkhinval office said that they were ready to arrive but were waiting for JPF military observers, for, they said, it would get dark soon, and they were not allowed by instructions to go for monitoring independently, without JPF support.

Senior military observer at OSCE mission in Georgia Steve Young said on the telephone that he could not rely on information on Ossetian civilians' being detained, before monitoring is performed. Meanwhile, according to an update, the number of people detained at the Georgian post in Ergneti has reached about 60 people.