Opposition’s “coup” attempts “doomed to fail” - ruling party Sec-Gen
Kakha Kaladze, the Tbilisi Mayor and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday responded to transparency bill rallies. Photo: Tbilisi City Hall press office
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Kakha Kaladze, the Tbilisi Mayor and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said “any attempts by the radical wing” of the domestic opposition to replace the current authorities “through chaos and revolution” were “doomed to fail”.
In comments to the media following protests in the capital city last week over the ultimately withdrawn controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence, the official stressed “certain opposition groups” had been engaged in “daily activities” to “drag the country into” the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
If someone thinks it is possible to change the Georgian Government through confrontation, revolution or bloodshed, they are very wrong. The change of the authorities can take place like in any democratic, developed country, in a civilised manner, by the decision of the country’s population”, Kaladze said.
He noted “If anyone goes beyond the scope of the law, this will always be followed by an appropriate response”, he said after police on Friday said it had arrested 133 individuals during protest rallies on March 7 and 8.
In his interview for Imedi TV on Sunday, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also accused the country’s “radical opposition” of “misleading” the public over the bill, which involved registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “agents of foreign influence” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, and claimed they stood behind the last week’s “destructive rallies” in Tbilisi.
Garibashvili also said the United National Movement - the largest opposition group in the country - had been taking “continuous actions” to “drag Georgia into” the ongoing war since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The officials comments came following the Parliament's rejection of the bill on Friday, in the wake of the decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw it amid protests.
Georgian-based non-governmental organisations, the United States Department of State, European Union officials and the United Nations Office in Georgia all spoke out in criticism against the draft law before it was recalled.
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Friday said 58 law enforcement officers had received “various injuries” while ensuring safety during the rallies in central Tbilisi on Tuesday and Wednesday that protested the Parliament’s discussion of the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence.
Georgian Parliament on Friday formally retracted the draft law on transparency of foreign influence, following the decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the bill.
The ruling Georgian Dream party on Thursday said it was “unconditionally” withdrawing the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence that was met by a backlash by domestic opposition, civil sector and diplomatic representations in the country, citing the interest of maintaining domestic “tranquillity”, the country’s development and its European integration aspirations as factors behind the decision.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Sunday said the Government's opponents had used a “sensitive topic” of Russian occupation to “mislead” the public over the controversial transparency bill that was rejected by the Parliament this week amid protests.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said the Government of the ruling Georgian Dream party was the “guarantor” against the scenario of the “second front” of the war in Ukraine being opened in Georgia.
Bacho Dolidze, a member of the opposition United National Movement party, on Thursday said Vano Merabishvili, a member of UNM and the former Interior Minister, was bringing “nothing but destructive” effects to domestic political processes.
Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said the former United National Movement Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and UNM Chair Levan Khabeishvili had a “desire” to cause a change in the domestic political scene through “staging a confrontation, a revolution, a coup”.
The European Union should decide on Georgia’s membership candidate status “based on the reforms” implemented in the country and not as a “reward” for the country’s authorities “releasing a criminal”, Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Tuesday in reference to the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili.