Tbilisi Pride Week participants safely evacuated from festival territory amid counter-protest - Deputy Interior Minister
He stressed that the police were implementing all appropriate measures to “stabilise the situation and prevent any type of attacks on specific individuals”. Photo via Interior Ministry
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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.
In a press briefing, Darakhvelidze noted the maximum number of police officers, including Special Tasks Department units, were present at the location to ensure the safety of the participants of the festival.
Despite police cordons on the road, the right-wing rally participants managed to break through the police cordon, Darakhvelidze emphasised, noting that the law enforcement managed to ensure the safe evacuation of the Pride Week organisers and participants. “We have done everything to protect the life and health of each individual”, he added.
It is impossible to provide 100 percent security and protection at rallies, especially in an open space. We have talked about these risks all the time”, Darakhvelidze noted.
He stressed that the police were implementing all appropriate measures to “stabilise the situation and prevent any type of attacks on specific individuals”.
Earlier today, the local media announced that police had arrested several participants of the right-wing rally against the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week, after the clashes between the police and the participants of the rally.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry on Friday pledged to ensure safety for the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week, urged organisers and participants of the potential counter-protests to comply with the law, “legitimate police requests” and refrain from violating the freedom of assembly, adding the law enforcement units would be prepared to “maintain law and order and security” in locations set to be used by organisers of the celebration.
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 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.
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.
Georgian police arrested two individuals on the charges of petty hooliganism and disobedience to police officers during the counter-protest of Tbilisi Pride Week in Tbilisi on Saturday, the Georgian Interior Ministry told local news agency InterPressNews on Sunday.