TBILISI — Georgia’s annual LGBT+ Pride event was evacuated by police on Saturday after hundreds of counter-protesters stormed the grounds.
In a statement, organizers of the festival in the capital Tbilisi said they were forced to shut down the annual celebrations after authorities failed to maintain the lockdown.
“Today’s developments indicate that the events planned today were coordinated and agreed in advance between the Interior Ministry and the violent group Alt-Info,” Tbilisi Pride said.
Acting Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said that “the Pride festival was supposed to take place in an open area” and therefore the authorities were “unable to provide protection”.
Smoke billowed over the site, a field just outside of town, while LGBT+ rainbow flags were burned and right-wing activists danced to traditional Georgian folk music. Participants had previously been told to board buses for safety reasons.
In response to the attacks, British Ambassador to Georgia Mark Clayton said he was “shocked and sad to see that despite the planning and preventive measures, the Tbilisi Pride Festival has been canceled due to safety risks for the participants.”
See more
I am shocked and saddened that despite the planning and prevention measures @Tbilisipride The festival was canceled due to safety concerns for attendees. I call on the authorities to ensure that anyone who broke the law and aggressively disrupted a peaceful gathering is brought to justice. pic.twitter.com/6rOsPQqm8n
— Mark Clayton (@MarkClaytonFCDO) July 8, 2023
He called on the Georgian government to “ensure that anyone who broke the law and aggressively disrupted a peaceful gathering is brought to justice.”
Despite the convictions, Shalva Papuashvili, head of the Georgian parliament, insisted that “the police responded appropriately” and “adequately ensured the safety of both the participants and the journalists”.
Rémy Bony, executive director of LGBT+ NGO Forbidden Colours, said EU countries should give organizers sanctuary in their embassies because “their lives are in danger.” Thousands of anti-LGBTIQ hooligans are they hunt.”
See more
🏳️🌈🇬🇪The embassies of the EU member states in Georgia must immediately open their doors to the organizers of Tbilisi Pride.
Your life is in danger. They are being hunted down by thousands of anti-LGBTIQ hooligans. The Georgian authorities are unable to provide security. pic.twitter.com/8cYtIoRP6N
— Remy Bonny (@RemyBonny) July 5, 2021
Alt-Info, a far-right group with close ties to the Georgian Orthodox Church, has repeatedly organized counter-protests against the annual celebrations. In 2021, dozens of journalists were injured at the annual event, and a cameraman later died.
After this year’s violence, the EU mission in the country sent a strongly worded letter to the government, condemning “direct attacks on Georgia’s democratic and pro-European aspirations” and criticizing the burning of an EU flag outside the country’s parliament.
Levan Chachua, the leader of the nationalist religious political group Georgian Idea, told POLITICO from the crowd on Saturday: “I would refuse to join the EU if it would prevent us from entering the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Georgia has declared its intention to join the EU. But Brussels has warned that its government, which has sought closer ties with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, has seen a significant backslide on human rights and civil liberties.