Georgian State Security Service claims unspecified groups “trying to organise provocations” at ongoing protest rallies against transparency bill

The Georgian State Security Service on Wednesday claimed unspecified groups involving a “specific part” of Georgian volunteers fighting in Ukraine were “trying to organise provocations” at ongoing protest rallies against the Bill on transparency of foreign influence in Tbilisi.

In the interests of state security and peaceful coexistence of citizens, we would like to inform the public that, according to the information received, certain groups of individuals are trying to organise provocations at the ongoing protest rallies outside the Parliament, which aim to develop destructive and violent scenarios and are managed with funding from foreign countries, by leaders of specific parliamentary and non-parliamentary political parties and heads of non-governmental organisations”, the statement of the Service said.

It further claimed Georgian citizens outside the country were “actively involved in criminal plans”, adding the group included the volunteers who “declare their readiness to come to Georgia and actively participate in planned violence against the police”.

“The persons in question are in active communication with like-minded individuals in Georgia and are discussing plans to block and paralyse the Parliament, the Government Administration and other government buildings”, the Service alleged.

The statement further claimed the individuals were “actively discussing plans to attack the special [state] task force if necessary, leading to a full escalation of the situation”.

In order to neutralise the special task force squad and the police, the organisers of the criminal actions, in many cases without revealing their real reasons, instruct young people to bring easily flammable substances to the Parliament, which will later be used to make Molotov cocktails and to use them for confrontation with the law enforcement. Also, they have been instructed to secretly bring stones and iron clubs to the rally”, the statement alleged.

The Service claimed the organisers were “actively using the methods of violent training” conducted by the Serbian-based NGO Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies and Peter Ackerman, the late American specialist on civil resistance, with the purpose of “so-called Maidanisation and provocation of events similar to the civil wars of the 90s in the country”, in reference to the developments in Ukraine in 2014 and conflicts in Georgia.

The Service called on demonstrators not to follow the alleged provocations and warned the organisers that “in case of implementation of the destructive plans, law enforcement agencies will take immediate legal measures to prevent an escalation of events, exclude riots, civil conflicts and maintain peace in the country”.