CNN —A large protest was held in Tbilisi on Saturday to demand harsh punishment for a woman accused of defacing a religious icon depicting Josef Stalin which was recently-installed in the Georgian capital, as tensions over the incident remained high. Thousands of Orthodox believers and supporters of the Alt-Info pro-Russian ultra-conservative movement gathered on Saturday in front of the country’s parliament before matching through the city in the direction of the cathedral. The icon is located at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia. The police opened an investigation into “petty hooliganism” and questioned the woman who had damaged the icon. Flowers were placed by the icon on Saturday as believers lined up to kiss the part of it depicting Stalin.

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Persons: Josef Stalin, Irakli Gedenidze, Stalin, St Matrona, ”, Flowers Organizations: CNN, Trinity Cathedral, Reuters, Alliance of Patriots, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Church Locations: Tbilisi, Georgia, Soviet, Russian, Georgian, Tbilisi , Georgia, Soviet Union, Moscow