President Zourabichvii Urges Action Against Anti-LGBT Attack on Tbilisi Pride Festival
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, July 10, 2023
On July 8, the Tbilisi Pride festival in Tbilisi was forcefully disrupted by approximately 2,000 anti-LGBT protesters. During the incident, clashes between the protesters and police occurred, resulting in the destruction of props. The organizers of the festival were escorted by the police out of the Lisi area in minibusses and yellow buses due to the police's inability to ensure the area's security.
Prior to the festival, the organizers had expressed that they had been assured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the event's protection.
Law enforcement officers were deployed near Lis Lake, surrounding the festival area. However, the limited police presence was unable to withstand the aggression of certain groups. Consequently, these groups managed to breach the festival area, leading to the intervention of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who escorted the Pride organizers away from the scene.
In a special briefing, The President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili emphasized that the country had failed to uphold the constitutional commitment to protect the rights of freedom of expression and assembly for all individuals. The President urged the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take concrete measures to prevent any acts of violence and called on the Georgian Dream government to refrain from using hate speech and engaging in actions that promote violence.
"People were not given the opportunity to hold their own event, arranged in a closed space, at a pre-planned location, and under conditions agreed upon with law enforcement officers. The law enforcement structures had been provided with the condition of protection, and thus, all necessary measures had to be taken. Protecting the right to assembly means ensuring the event takes place, not vacating the premises. It seems as if security cannot be safeguarded in any other way - with this approach and intention, we can imagine that all events, regardless of their form and content, which do not please radical groups, will fail if law enforcement officers continue to act in this manner, as they did today.
It is an alarming reality that the counteraction was incited, tested, and openly supported through posts circulated on social networks, not only by representatives of various branches of the ruling party but also directly by the party itself, including acting deputies. Thus, the value of the urgent statements made by officials responsible for protecting human rights - the chairman of the parliament and the chairman of the human rights committee - is called into question when they assure us that they are defenders of human rights, while actions contradict their words.
In fact, by instigating these conflicts and failing to condemn these actions or hate speech, the ruling party, holding the majority in parliament, perpetuates violence and assumes responsibility for all ensuing consequences. Today, I want to first and foremost call upon the Ministry of Internal Affairs to actively prevent all violent acts, as this is their duty as law enforcement, and I urge the management team to cease using hate speech and inciting violence. Such situations can easily occur with fully controlled messaging platforms," stated Zourabichvili.
