The opposition European Georgia party has demanded advertising company Alma put up their banners and to fulfil the terms of their contract.
European Georgia wants to place the banners where the billionaire and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili is depicted as a pig. The billboard calls on Georgian citizens ‘not to become an animal farm and stop being understanding’ in a reference to the George Orwell novel Animal Farm.
Today is the last day of these banners to be put up in several locations in Tbilisi but they [Alma] have done nothing for it and they are trying to hide,” the party leader Giorgi Noniashvili stated earlier today.
The party pledges to ‘create inconvenience, both legally and otherwise’ if the company does not comply with the terms of the agreement.
Alma announced yesterday that it will ‘not put up hate speech banners’ and addressed the Georgian parliament on October 3 with an initiative to ban hateful advertisements.
The company also noted in its statement that such a decision might lead to ‘legal proceedings against the company,’ however, Alma says that their ‘decision is final in relation to any subject.’
However, Noniashvili said that ‘Alma's initiative is insincere and only serves to maintain its reputation.’
Anti-opposition ‘bloody’ billboards appeared in Tbilisi on September 17 ahead of the October 2 municipal elections which depicted opposition political leaders and managers of opposition-minded TV channels.
Several complaints were filed in the Central Election Commission (CEC) over the billboards, however, the CEC found no legal basis for drawing up a violation report on the placement of anti-opposition banners.
The ‘bloody’ banners were removed from all locations in Georgia after the municipal elections on October 2 took place.