58 law enforcers injured during transparency bill protests - Interior Ministry
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Friday responded to rallies in Tbilisi this week. Photo: RFE/RL
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The Georgian Interior Ministry on Friday said 58 law enforcement officers had received “various injuries” while ensuring safety during the rallies in central Tbilisi on Tuesday and Wednesday that protested the Parliament’s discussion of the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence.
The body said five of the injured professionals remained under medical care following clashes with protesters outside the legislative body.
Briefing of the Director of the Central Criminal Police Department – Teimuraz Kupatadze in connection with incidents that took place on protest rally on March 7 and 8.https://t.co/IAa4yWb7gI
— MIA of Georgia (@MIAofGeorgia) March 10, 2023
The Ministry stressed the rallies had “many times exceeded the legal norms of assembly” and “turned violent”, and said the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, stones, wooden poles and other objects in the direction of law enforcers.
It also said a group of demonstrators damaged the Parliament building, overturned and set fire to several Ministry vehicles, damaged a bus of its Special Tasks Department as well as a fire truck and facades of buildings on adjacent Rustaveli Avenue, and smashed shop windows.
Statement of MIA regarding the incidents that took place during the protest rally in Tbilisi near the Parliament building. https://t.co/jnYtpeRT8jhttps://t.co/9SUUvpRVHx
— MIA of Georgia (@MIAofGeorgia) March 9, 2023
“Despite the warnings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the rally participants went beyond the norms established by the law on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, ignoring lawful demands of the law enforcement officers”, the body said.
In response to the “illegal actions”, the Ministry said its employees had arrested 133 individuals on Tuesday and Wednesday for “violation of public order [and] rule of law”.
The Ministry noted several of the detainees had been brought before court on Thursday while others had been released before their trials, and pledged those involved in the clashes would be “held accountable”.
Demonstrators overturned a police car. Photo: 1TV.
The Georgian Parliament on Friday formally retracted the draft law, following the decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party on Thursday to withdraw it.
The legislative initiative called for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “agents of foreign influence” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
Georgian-based non-governmental organisations, the United States Department of State, European Union officials and the United Nations Office in Georgia all spoke out in criticism against the draft law before it was recalled.
Georgian Parliament on Friday formally retracted the draft law on transparency of foreign influence, following the decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the bill.
All individuals detained by police for administrative offences on Tuesday and Wednesday outside the Parliament building in Tbilisi during a protest against the bill on transparency of foreign influence [adopted by the legislative body in its first reading], have been released, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Georgian police arrested 133 individuals during protests outside the Parliament in central Tbilisi on Tuesday and Wednesday against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on Thursday.
The ruling Georgian Dream party on Thursday said it was “unconditionally” withdrawing the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence that was met by a backlash by domestic opposition, civil sector and diplomatic representations in the country, citing the interest of maintaining domestic “tranquillity”, the country’s development and its European integration aspirations as factors behind the decision.
Georgia’s former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili on Wednesday claimed ensuring the release of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili was one of the goals of the public protests held this week in Tbilisi over the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Sunday said the Government's opponents had used a “sensitive topic” of Russian occupation to “mislead” the public over the controversial transparency bill that was rejected by the Parliament this week amid protests.
Kakha Kaladze, the Tbilisi Mayor and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said “any attempts by the radical wing” of the domestic opposition to replace the current authorities “through chaos and revolution” were “doomed to fail”.
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Tuesday said it had launched administrative proceedings after a group of far-right activists took down and burned the European Union flag from a pole in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi earlier during the day.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the European Union flag would be returned to the pole outside the Parliament building in Tbilisi “with due honour” after far-right activists took the symbol down and burned it in an incident earlier during the day.
Georgian Vice Prime Minister Thea Tsulukiani on Monday accused the Franklin Club, a domestic non-governmental organisation promoting “classical liberal and libertarian values”, of affiliation with “radical and extremist” political parties in the country, after the group announced cancellation of its educational cooperation with University of Georgia citing “attacks” by Government members.
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Wednesday said it had arrested one individual for assaulting law enforcement officers and damaging their vehicle during the protests against the bill on transparency of foreign influence in the country’s capital of Tbilisi between March 7-9.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday called the fact of Viola von Cramon, a member of the European Parliament, joining a rally organised in Tbilisi by a domestic political party on Saturday “unacceptable”, adding it “once again” showed her “attitude towards the Georgian state”.
Gia Volski, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Sunday said the member of the European parliament Viola von Cramon, was “part of a plot” against Georgia.
The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia on Monday rejected claims of an individual arrested for assaulting police during last month’s protests in Tbilisi against the bill on transparency of foreign influence having had his hair shaven against his will and denied access to his legal team.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday challenged Salome Samadashvili, an MP for the opposition Lelo party, on her supportive comments about Lazare Grigoriadis, the protester arrested for alleged assault on law enforcement officers during last month's public rallies in Tbilisi, by asking her if she would "thank" the latter if it was proven by courts that he "poured gasoline on and set another person on fire".
Three individuals have been arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers in southeastern Georgia’s Marneuli region, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Friday said March protests in Tbilisi against the Bill on Transparency of Foreign Influence had “turned into violence” despite “numerous calls” from his office to protesters to act peacefully.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday said he had “clearly confirmed” to country’s European and American “friends” that the ruling Georgian Dream party would not revert to the domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, which it retracted from the Parliament voting following domestic and international backlash in March.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday claimed domestic “anarchist organisations” who he said had been affiliated with the “radical” United National Movement opposition had “used” and “made” the youth throw Molotov cocktails at police during March rallies in Tbilisi over the controversial foreign influence transparency bill.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Sunday said the violence was unacceptable and had to be punished, noting the Government’s liability was to ensure an appropriate response to a crime and the opposition’s “responsibility” to “at least” condemn it verbally.
Police officers injured at public rallies held in Tbilisi earlier this year against a proposed bill on transparency of foreign influence on Wednesday asked President Salome Zourabichvili to refrain from pardoning Lazare Grigoriadis, a protester arrested for alleged assault on law enforcement.