Tbilisi Pride March to take place tomorrow
Organisers of Tbilisi Pride call on supporters to join the March of Dignity. Photo: Tbilisi Pride
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The March of Dignity will be the final event of Tbilisi Pride Week and will be held tomorrow.
Organisers of the event called on supporters through their social media channels to join the march, which was postponed amid the protest rallies in Tbilisi.
#Breaking: Tbilisi Pride March is taking place tomorrow. Join and support us! #TbilisiPride #Georgia @GovernmentGeo @Zourabichvili_S @ChugoshviliMP @TamarKhulordava @MIAofGeorgia @Jos_Douma @LouisaVinton @JustinMcKenzieS @usingeo @SwedeninGE pic.twitter.com/kPFF7aErgs
— Tbilisi Pride (@TbilisiPride) July 7, 2019
Saying they are "coming out" the team of Tbilisi Pride hoped the Georgian Interior Ministry would ensure the march is held in safe and peaceful environment.
We hope the Government of Georgia is fully aware of the responsibility they have and will spare no efforts to ensure safety of each participant of the March of Dignity”, the organisers said.
The video below shows a number of people who are supporting the march and calling for others to join:
Tbilisi Pride turmoil in short
- Back in February 2019 LGBT groups and their supporters announced plans on hold the first ever Tbilisi Pride between 18 and 23 June to raise public awareness about sexual minorities in the country.
- They asked the police to protect their rights and provide for their safety during several events, especially during the march in central Tbilisi at the end of the pride week.
- However, the ministry responded this would be impossible if such events were held on the most crowded central streets of Tbilisi, on Freedom Square or Rustaveli Avenue.
Some radical groups, including a Georgian businessman Levan Vasadze, who has been rather harsh against the LGBT activists and supporters, came to the Administrative building of the Government of Georgia to hinder the peaceful demonstrators from exercising their right to freedom of assembly and expression. Photo: Agenda.ge
- On June 14 the Georgian Patriarchate urged the government to cancel the pride week to avoid “a very possible confrontation.”
- The pride organisers called the statement “an appeal to violence” and decided to protest upon the statement in front of the administration building of the government of Georgia.
- However, before their arrival, ultra-right and national groups, headed by businessman Levan Vasadze, arrived at the scene.
- Police did not allow the LGBT supporters stand in front of the administration building, made a cordon between pride supporters and their opposers “who acted very aggressively, throwing eggs and others items.
28 people were detained for resisting police officers and other petty hooliganism during demonstration against Tbilisi Pride in front of the Administrative building of the Government of Georgia o June 14. Photo: Agenda.ge
- Police detained 28 during the rally, from ultra-national groups, releasing 21 later.
- Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said on June 17 that human rights in Georgia, including those of sexual minorities, are protected and the issue has been “artificially exacerbated.
- 13 local NGOs expressed support for Tbilisi Pride in their joint statement on June 18.
Following protests in Tbilisi that were sparked after the Russian MPs visit to Tbilisi on June 20 the March of Dignity was temporarily postponed, however, other events during the pride week were carried out without a delay.
Peaceful demonstrators will gathered on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi for the eighteenth consecutive day on July 7, again demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
Turmoil around the first Tbilisi Pride - a week-long event dedicated to the rights of LGBT individuals - continues as organisers decided yesterday to hold the events despite threats coming from nationalist groups. the organisers said earlier today that LGBT march will not be held on the central streets of Tbilisi.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that human rights in Georgia, including those of sexual minorities, are protected and the issue has been “artificially exacerbated.”
28 people were detained for resisting police officers and other petty hooliganism during last night’s demonstration against Tbilisi Pride in front of the Administrative building of the Government of Georgia. The Georgian Interior Ministry reported today that the detainees tried to break the police corton and threw eggs at the peaceful demonstrators supporting LGBT rights.
Georgian church urge cancellation of event
LGBT Pride Week is set to be held between June 18-23 in Tbilisi to raise the awareness about sexual minorities. The Georgian Patriarchate has urged the government earlier today not to allow the event to take place, “as it is known beforehand that the event will lead to unrest.”
Tbilisi City Court earlier ruled today that one of the leaders of anti-LGBT rallies in Tbilisi in mid-June, Guram Palavandishvili verbally insulted police and disobeyed them when he was summoned for interrogation regarding the rallies on June 20.
Police has blocked the road on Rustaveli Avenue to separate two ongoing demonstrations on Rustaveli Avenue, as tensions between an anti-occupation rally and a counter-protest involving clerics and nationalist groups are high in the capital.
Tbilisi Pride, which was scheduled to take place earlier today, has been cancelled “due to increased threats”, as clerics, nationalist groups and their supporters have gathered at different locations in Tbilisi to prevent the march from taking place.