Hundreds of people, having fled Georgian villages in the South Ossetian conflict zone, gathered this morning outside Tbilisi City Hall, hoping to get shelter.
 
“We fled our village at 2am, taking nothing with us,” a woman outside the mayor’s office told Civil.Ge.
 
She said she was from the village of Kordi, which is about seven kilometers from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. “Georgian villages [in the conflict zone] are almost empty. The wing of a downed jet is now in my backyard. It is impossible to live there now.”
 
The number of displaced persons in Georgia proper and South Ossetia is estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000, according to UNHCR.
 
“The Georgians have said that 2,400 people have fled into Georgia proper, but our representative there believes the figure is substantially higher,” Reuters reported, quoting UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond as saying.