Interior Ministry pledges to ensure safety for Tbilisi Pride Week
In their statement, Tbilisi Pride said no “street march” would be held as part of this year’s festival, with only registered attendees being hosted in a “safe, closed space” for events of the programme. Photo: Interior Ministry
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Georgia’s Interior Ministry on Friday pledged to ensure safety for the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week, ahead of the concluding event of the queer community festival in the Georgian capital on Saturday.
The Ministry said it had been involved in working meetings with the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia, United Nations and other international organisations, as well as diplomatic corps, to ensure safe hosting of the events planned in this year’s programme of the festival that launched on July 1.
The body also said it was in communication with organisers of the events designed to celebrate LGBTQ+ community and highlight the rights of queer people.
For the closing event on Saturday, and in the wake of media reports on “several groups planning counter-protests” against the Pride Week, the Ministry said law enforcement units would be prepared to “maintain law and order and security” in locations set to be used by organisers of the celebration.
It also urged organisers and participants of the potential counter-protests comply with the law and “legitimate police requests” and refrain from violating the freedom of assembly.
In their statement, Tbilisi Pride said no “street march” would be held as part of this year’s festival, with only registered attendees being hosted in a “safe, closed space” for events of the programme.
They also said the Ministry had provided “strong guarantees” the festival would be “properly protected”.
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”.
The United Nations and the European Union representation in Georgia, along with 28 foreign embassies in the country, on Wednesday welcomed the increased public support for the protection of minority rights in Georgia but expressed concerns of “stalled progress” in ensuring their protection.
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.
The programme for this year’s Tbilisi Pride Week kicked off on Tuesday in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi with a screening of Wet Sand, an award-winning feature by director Elene Naveriani.
A new survey under the United Nations Joint Programme for Gender Equality has revealed a decreasing tendency of negative attitudes toward the LGBTQI community in Georgia, while still pointing out a “significant challenge” in the protection of the rights of queer people.
Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze on Saturday said the participants of the Tbilisi Pride Week had been safely evacuated from the area designated for the Pride festival amid the counter-protest.
Police arrested several participants of a right-wing rally against the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week in the city on Saturday, the local media announced.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday condemned “all kinds of violence” and thanked police officers for their efforts to ensure the safety of the participants of Tbilisi Pride Week and journalists.
Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani on Saturday called on the country’s Interior Ministry to respond “timely and appropriately” to all violations of law during the counter-protest of the Tbilisi Pride Week in the Georgian capital on Saturday.