Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke about the events of July 5 during the nomination of Davit Cherkezishvili, the Georgian Dream mayoral candidate in Tkibuli, and once again accused government opponents of fighting against the patriarch and the church.
“This is a conspiracy against Georgia and our people. The first task is not to leave any authority in the country, to discredit all the authorities, all the authoritative institutions – the army, the police, the court.
“That is why they are fighting against the Church, the Patriarch, causing a thousand provocations, that is why they stood behind the LGBT March campaign and organized the grave provocation that we avoided. Of course, what has happened was very unfortunate and we all condemned it – there could be no attack on journalists and it was a catastrophic mistake.
“Most importantly, however, all abusers were punished and arrested. We know very well from whom this grave provocation and conspiracy against the people came from,” Irakli Garibashvili said.
He added that now it is necessary to calmly overcome the pre-election period, and in the next 3 years there will be no more elections in the country.
On July 5, homophobic and violent groups took to Rustaveli Avenue to disrupt a March of Honor planned as part of Tbilisi Pride Week in Tbilisi. The groups were particularly aggressive towards the media. As a result of the assaults by the opponents of Tbilisi Pride, up to 53 media representatives were injured.
The cameraman of TV Pirveli, Lekso Lashkarava, who was also beaten by opponents of Tbilisi Pride while performing his duties, was found dead a few days after the group violence. The investigation is still underway to determine the exact cause of death. Several individuals have been arrested on charges of participating in group violence.
By Ana Dumbadze
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