The Armenian 10th century church, located in Gumburdo settlement of Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region, is controlled by law enforcers, after the clashes between local Armenian population and Georgian police officers,  co-chairman of unregistered Virk Party, Davit Rstakyan, told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

It was reported earlier that the Georgian police officers were firing into the air and were beating local Armenians with truncheons during the scuffle in Javakheti region. The scuffle between the locals and police officers broke out on Saturday morning after the residents tried to install a kahchkar in the yard of a church.

Rstakyan noted that the situation in the village is quiet now.

According to him, nobody is allowed to enter the reconstructed Gumburdo church, and there are serious suspicions that some changes are being made inside, in order to say later that the church has Georgian origin.