As one could imagine, this edition of Georgian Pride was also severely attacked by homophobic groups, under the complacent gaze of the police. So much so that the closing event of pride week, Pride Fest, is over before it even starts
As was largely predictable from the premises, on 8 July the Pride Fest, the final event of the Georgian Pride Week, was overwhelmed by homophobic violence. A new pogrom prevented the event from taking place, although it was not held in an open but closed area, which was accessed with a ticket. On July 8, as on the occasion of the 2021 March for Dignity, the event was canceled due to threats and the unopposed invasion of a violent crowd.
After the homophobic protests of 2013 and 2021, the organizers had withdrawn to a closed space, the Lisi Wonderland, not with free access, and had received guarantees from the Ministry of the Interior that the event could have been held in that location it would have been more protected than the city streets.
The event was supposed to start at 16.00, but most of those who were supposed to attend, including the press, never even reached the Lisi Wonderland. At 12.00 the gatherings of violent people began in two parts of the city: near the place of the event and near the monument of Vasha Pshavela, which is an hour’s walk away. These gatherings were not spontaneous in nature. The organization of these groups by Alt-Info, the ultra-conservative, pro-Russian and homophobic movement that had promised itself not to allow the event to take place, had been preparing for days.
The homophobic march towards the park then began, where the groups began the siege. At 15.00 the situation escalated, with more and more insistent breaches of the protections. At that point, the order for the evacuation of organizers and activists went out. The evacuation was carried out by minibus. Panic on board not knowing exactly where to go, where it would be safe to be dropped off by the minibus, because in 2021 the Pride headquarters had also been stormed.
State pogrom
While the legitimate guests were forced to leave the event area, Lisi Wonderland became the scene of the ugliness of the uninvited guests. In fact, not only did the police not prevent threats from being made such as to have to remove organizers and activists, but then they did not prevent the havoc on the Pride site with rainbow and European Union flags torched, the theft and destruction of goods that had been collected to mark the event, from soft drinks to yoga mats.
The police who patrolled the area were numerous, but inadequately trained. We are now used to seeing Georgian riot policemen equipped as robocop and not to spare the use of hydrants, hence the iconic image, for example, of the pro-European demonstration in which a woman with the European flag faces the impetus of the hydrants.
Not this time. No riot gear, just a shirt and pants.
Certainly thinking of facing a homophobic horde in t-shirts does not correspond to an efficient security plan, and it is not surprising that the police cordon guarding the event did not hold up. This incomplete plan crowns a period in which public opinion and the most homophobic right were bankrolled with anti-LGBTQ+ community outings, and an even longer period in which impunity was guaranteed for those who exercise violence against this community of citizens. Some of today’s attackers turned out to be the same as in 2021, figures who have continued to move freely around the country and who enjoy an inscrutable immunity to the law.
Today the organizers speak of an evident connivance of the forces of order and of the ruling class with the perpetrators of this new pogrom, which appears more and more like a state pogrom.
Lisi Wonderland has simply been conquered without the necessary measures being taken to prevent it from happening. The march from Vasha Pshavela was not stopped even though it was clear that it could culminate in a delinquent act aimed at preventing the right of demonstration and association for an authorized event. The police were not equipped for the circumstance. In short, there was no will to make Pride Fest possible. The capacity could have been there because the Georgian police were seen preventing access to protected areas of even larger crowds than the one that gathered against Pride, and estimated at 3,000 people.
Not only was the Alt-Info organization that raised funds and put together the (unauthorized) counter-demonstration unimpeded, but the government has openly embraced its homophobic positions.
An unstoppable decline
It is an unstoppable decline of the rule of law and guardianship in Georgia in the hands of the Georgian Dream. Reporting the incident the President Salome Zourabishvili tweeted : “Today both freedom of expression and assembly guaranteed by our constitution were violated! Law enforcement officials failed to protect the Pride Fest event, failed to prevent disruption, and effectively canceled the event by taking the organizers away. The ruling party has failed to condemn its followers, who openly spread hate speech and incitement to violence. A shame for a country that for centuries has made tolerance its identity”.
His condemnation, heavy, is accompanied by the voice of many, including theEuropean Parliament .
The day after Pride Fest’s dramatic cancellation, organizers staged a performance in front of Parliament with some of the half-burned material from the festival venue. They called for the punishment of those responsible, including the leaders of Alt-Info.
But everything is silent, despite the fact that the counter-demonstration did not have the characteristics of secrecy and did not involve a great deal of investigative activity.
The connivance between the police and the perpetrators of crimes – a reputation that the Georgian police had painstakingly removed with the reforms but which is returning to characterize it – was also recently documented on the occasion of theassault on Formula TV journalist Misha Mshvildadze . Through the shooting of television cameras, the opposition TV has in fact identified among the assailants Giorgi Mumladze, a member of the secret services, godson of the deputy head of the Services, Levan Akhobadze.
The governing Georgian Dream party would be making very private use of the police forces. Obviously, the citizens who do not support it pay the price.
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