No legislative changes have been made, and without 100% consent, the municipality has no right to evict people from their homes. Such a statement made today the Mayor of Tbilisi, while talking about the collapsed building at the Station Square.

"The building is classified as "category 3". That was my mistake – I previously said it was "category 5". But again, I would like to underline that the specific category does not fundamentally matter, because people lived in this building, despite many meetings held by the local administration.

I can repeat with full responsibility – if this is incorrect, I will resign today. No legislative changes have occurred, and without 100% agreement from the residents, the municipality has absolutely no right to evict anyone. That kind of thing used to happen prior to 2012.

When we`re dealing with areas that are geologically hazardous or urbanistically unsuitable, only in those cases do we have the authority to begin the process without full consent.

The building was in an emergency condition, Believe it or not, there wasn`t even a formal request from the residents.

Yesterday, I was asked whether the building had been repainted 2 years ago - that is not true. In 2017, during David Narmania`s tenure as Mayor, reinforcement work was carried out on the building, but as you can see, it is still structurally unsafe.

Once again, I emphasize that we have a replacement program, not a reinforcement one. People need to support this effort - and so does the media - by helping us share accurate information with the public, instead of spreading lies", - said Kakha Kaladze.