100-strong unit of Interior Troops were dispatched on May 11 to Georgia’s southern multi-ethnic district of Tsalka.

The move follows clashes between the local ethnic Armenians and Georgians on May 9. Several people were reportedly injured.

Ethnic Armenians comprise 57% of population of Tsalka district in Kvemo Kartli region with population around 20,000, according to the Georgian department of statistics.

4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic Georgians, up to 2,000 Azerbaijanis also live in the Tsalka district.

Local officials describe clashes between ethnic Georgians and Armenians, which have been reported sporadically for several years, as “a communal violence.”