“They barged into the competition grounds, breaking gear, burning flags and placards, spilled our champagne, and taking stuff from the venue,” Mariam Kvaratskhelia, an LGBTQ activist who helped put collectively the occasion, mentioned in a telephone interview Sunday.
Police evacuated a number of dozen individuals who have been on the occasion, and nobody was injured, Kvaratskhelia mentioned. About 3,000 folks registered to attend the Pleasure occasion, however the mob confirmed up earlier than it opened, she mentioned. In a press release, organizers criticized regulation enforcement for failing to “use proportional pressure and measures towards the attackers,” including that police “compelled” attendees to depart the world on prearranged buses as a substitute of dispersing the mob.
Animosity towards sexual minorities stays widespread within the southeastern European nation, which has a robust Orthodox Christian affect. Critics have lengthy accused the ruling Georgian Dream get together — which opponents and a few Western diplomats have mentioned is main the nation away from the West — of tacitly supporting homophobic and nationalist teams.
Deputy Inside Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze advised reporters that regulation enforcement had issue policing an open area, and a few protesters managed to avoid cordons to enter the competition space, state-affiliated media mentioned. A number of of the counterprotesters have been arrested, in line with stories.
Saturday’s competition was held on a non-public, registration-only foundation. It was the second consecutive yr that organizers determined towards a public march in hopes of lowering the chance of violent counterprotests.
President Salome Zourabichvili, an unbiased who’s vital of the governing Georgian Dream get together, steered that radical teams could be emboldened to disrupt occasions if police “act like they did at this time.”
She accused Dream lawmakers of stirring up tensions towards LGBTQ activists forward of Pleasure and warned that by “inciting these counter-rallies and never condemning these actions or hate speech, the ruling get together, the vast majority of the Parliament, helps violence and takes accountability for all the implications.”
The European Union’s delegation in Tbilisi mentioned in a press release that it was “disappointing to see that safety and freedom of meeting couldn’t be ensured” and that lawbreakers needs to be held accountable. The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi and different Western diplomatic missions additionally denounced the violent assault.
Georgia has utilized to affix the European Union, however Brussels didn’t grant Tbilisi official candidate standing final yr, stating that it wished to see extra reforms carried out. Ukraine and Moldova got candidate standing at the moment.
