On March 8, Muslims in Adigeni were not allowed to perform Friday prayers. Clergymen and parishioners of the local diocese of the Orthodox Church came to the house owned by Yusuf Mikeladze. They forced Yusuf Mikeladze to go outside, threatened him, and cursed him.
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The policemen mobilized on the spot did not allow the journalists to enter the yard and work. According to TOK TV, part of the population protested against the opening of the Muslim shrine in the building.
“Who are you? Get out, talk to people, you bastard. I'll rip your face off, you shameless man, you. I swear on my mother if I don't leave you lame forever. Drag out. Don't think this is your house. It will never be yours, never. What do you think, you will be here?” addressed the Orthodox cleric Yusuf Mikeladze.
People who were with him said that the house would be for “Georgian people, Christians”.
The mayor of Adigeni municipality Gocha Kimadze tried to calm down the irritated people. The house “will be closed and there will be no more prayer,” he noted.
“It is our very great desire that it be so. We do not prevent anyone; they should pray, but there is one thing - this mosque is opened here in violation of all laws. That's what your excitement is about. I understand you too,” said the mayor.
According to him, “this case” has been going on for a long time, the government is working, and they have reached a certain agreement.
“I met these gentlemen yesterday. We talked for an hour and a half. We had such an agreement that today people, worshipers, the Muslim community would not come here, and it would be only the owner of the house and one of his mullahs who would read prayers here. They fulfilled this condition,” said Gocha Kimadze.
The mayor says that he will meet with the representatives of the Muslim community on Monday as well. “Just so you know, they aren't coming to negotiate with us on Monday. They are coming on Monday to answer, so what I am telling you will be documented, so to speak,” Gocha Kimadze told the gathering.
This is not the first case of confrontation with local Muslims in Adigeni. In 2016, Muslims were attacked for demanding a separate cemetery.
