Interior Ministry calls on groups opposing Tbilisi Pride Week to abide by law
Groups opposing the Tbilisi Pride Week events were also urged to “not exceed the limits of the right to assembly and manifestation”, with the state body noting “each case” of violations would be prevented and a “strict legal response” would follow. Photo: Ministry of Internal Affairs/Facebook.
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Georgia’s Interior Ministry on Saturday issued a call for groups opposing the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week events to abide by the law, and pledged to ensure public order, safety and freedom of expression and assembly of “each individual”.
In its statement, the Ministry said it was in “constant communication” with Tbilisi Pride Week organisers to ensure planned events would be held in safety, and noted law enforcement officers would be “mobilised at all venues” hosting planned events to avoid “artificial escalation”.
The state body also called on media representatives to be in coordination with the Ministry’s Strategic Communications Department when covering the events, and urged them to follow instructions of law enforcement officers issued on grounds of security.
Groups opposing the Tbilisi Pride Week events were also urged to “not exceed the limits of the right to assembly and manifestation”, with the state body noting “each case” of violations would be prevented and a “strict legal response” would follow.
The Ministry also noted 26 participants of a rally against an event of the ongoing Pride Week had been arrested in the early hours of Saturday for “disorderly conduct”.
The arrests were made near the city’s Mtatsminda Park, and included two leaders of the Alt-Info right-wing media platform that had announced planned action against the Pride Week in the run-up to the event.
Police arrested 26 participants of a right-wing rally against the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week in Tbilisi on Saturday for “disorderly conduct”.
Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into threats issued by the right-wing organisation Alt-Info ahead of the planned Tbilisi Pride Week, organised by the LGBTQ+ community and set to start in the capital on Tuesday, Interpressnews reported on Monday.
The safety and freedom of expression and assembly of “each individual” will be protected during the upcoming Tbilisi Pride Week, Georgia’s Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
The Georgian Government’s responsibility to safeguard the rights to peaceful assembly of LGBTQI+ persons, prevent discrimination and violence and ensure commemoration of IDAHOBIT, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia “openly and publicly” were stressed by the diplomatic missions in Georgia on Monday.
Police arrested 17 participants of a right-wing rally against the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week in the city on Saturday for non-compliance with law enforcement officers, with the development following arrests made earlier during the day.
The United Nations Development Programme issued a joint statement signed by diplomatic representations on Wednesday that welcomed the successful completion of the Tbilisi Pride Week and expressed hope the event would mark a “step forward” in ensuring LGBTQI+ community’s rights.
Conducting the events planned within the Tbilisi Pride Week in a “safe environment” was discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia and ambassadors and representatives of the EU member states.
The Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church and several other religious denominations in the country on Friday claimed Tbilisi Pride, the LGBTQ rights group that organises the annual festival of the same title, was engaged in “changing the cultural code” rather than protecting the rights of sexual minorities, and called for legal changes to address the “propaganda” and “prevent threats” to “civil peace”.