Ruling party official: draft amendments to law on manifestations part of “obligation to prevent unrest” in country
Mdinaradze noted that opposing the new amendments “means supporting and being an accomplice to executing revolutionary plans with human life at stake”, stressing the changes would only prohibit the placement of tents during demonstrations. Photo via Georgian Dream press office
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Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday commented on the draft amendments to the law of Georgia on Assemblies and Manifestations and said “it is our obligation to prevent unrest” in the country both at the legislative and practical levels, as “revolutionary” actions were planned this fall.
Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee today reviewed the amendments to the law in an accelerated manner in its first reading. The draft amendments make the law more stringent regarding the arrangement of temporary constructions during gatherings and demonstrations.
Mdinaradze noted that opposing the new amendments “means supporting and being an accomplice to executing revolutionary plans with human life at stake”, stressing the changes would only prohibit the placement of tents during demonstrations.
Givi Mikanadze, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party and one of the initiators of the draft amendments, said the decision to propose the changes followed the statement of the Georgian State Security Service on September 18, which said that the body had uncovered a plan by former officials of the previous United National Movement Government who were aiming to cause “civil unrest” and overthrow the country’s Government using a “Euromaidan scenario” this fall.
The Service noted scenarios of events to be used in Georgia included setting up a “tent city” for hosting continuous public rallies, erecting barricades near central avenues and strategic objects across Georgia, barricading Government buildings and “other illegal actions that contain elements of heavy provocation”.
The Georgian State Security Service on Monday claimed “top managerial representatives” from the Belgrade-based Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies had been invited to Georgia by the East-West Management Institute of the United States Agency for International Development programme last month to “train domestic civil groups and individuals for a planned unrest” in Tbilisi this fall.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said his Government would not allow “any disturbance or destabilisation” in the country by “destructive and radical” forces, in a comment following the State Security Service’s comment that alleged trainings of certain civil groups with the goal of organising an “unrest” this fall.
Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, the Deputy Interior Minister of Georgia, on Monday claimed the country’s State Security Service had obtained evidence of a “grave provocation against the state”, in response to the body’s statement over trainings of domestic groups for “anti-Government actions” planned this fall.
Iraikli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said Georgia was a “sovereign, independent” state where the Government would ensure “peace and tranquillity” and “not allow either a revolution or [an opening of] a second front [amid the war in Ukraine]”.
The Georgian Parliament on Wednesday approved amendments in the domestic Law on Assembly and Manifestation banning installation of “temporary constructions” during rallies on specific occasions in the first of three readings.
Givi Mikanadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Education and Science Committee, on Thursday said amendments to the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations, on review by the legislative body, were focused on the “protection of human life” and “in no way” restricted “peaceful assembly and demonstrations”.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday signed a decree terminating the citizenship of the United States-sanctioned former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze, as well as vetoed the amendments to the law of Georgia on Assemblies and Manifestations, the Presidential Administration said.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday claimed President Salome Zourabichvili had “already declared she is backing a revolution” in the country, and alleged those opposing the recent bill limiting installation of constructions during public rallies were “looking for unrest in the country”.
Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Mayor of Tbilisi, on Sunday highlighted the importance of the bill approved by lawmakers to limit installation of constructions during public rallies.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday claimed the adoption of the recent amendments to the Law on Broadcasting, which extends the power of the National Communications Commission in regulating hate speech and incitement to terrorism, had been a “demand of the European Union”.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights this week disapproved of the bill proposed by the Georgian Dream ruling party in September to limit erection of temporary constructions during rallies as “disproportionate”, with a potential “chilling effect on the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly”.