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PM Kobakhidze Said “Radical Minority” Protests Violently, Promised Punition

On May 1, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze held a press briefing in which he accused CSOs and foreign donors of instigating violence at the rallies. While regretting “isolated episodes” of police violence, he promised “moral and legal” consequences to the organizers.

In his statement, Kobakhidze stuck closely to the line advanced by the ruling party officials and the party’s patron, Bidzina Ivanishvili, during their rally on April 29. He reiterated the conspiracy theory that accuses CSOs of fomenting revolution “at least twice in the last three years” and said they “have not left Georgia in peace.” He said the Russia-styled foreign agents’ law is necessary to identify how the money from Western foundations was used for these attempts as well as “drug propaganda, LGBTQ+ propaganda, attacks on the Orthodox Church, and so on.”

He said that the April 30 rally was “violent” placing responsibility on “radicalized” political parties and NGOs, and foreign politicians and officials who encourage radicalization. He then argued, “It is better to see some violent rallies of the radical opposition now than to leave Georgia in a closed circle of radicalism and polarization.” Kobakhidze argued the government had “a mandate of the majority” from the April 30 rally to make the decision about the law.

Prime Minister Kobakhidze accused the Western politicians and embassies of “slandering” the proposed law on foreign agents, arguing it only promotes transparency “in accordance with European principles”. He said the refusal of the Ambassadors to meet him and publicly discuss the details of the law, points to the fact that they are just “speaking in the language of blatant blackmail.”

“All the authors of the slanderous statements share the responsibility for the violence that we saw yesterday conducted by a radical political minority. The responsibility for the violent actions of the collective “[United] National Movement” is also fully shared by the radical parties organizing and leading the rally, “NGOs” and their representatives. We implore everyone to clearly understand their moral and legal responsibility,” said Kobakhidze.

Kobakhidze identified the targets of such responsibility for organizing the “violent rally”:

  • “violent youth representatives” of the opposition parties: UNM, Lelo and Ahali,
  • Youth movements, he said, were “violent”: Talga, Jiutebi, Nabiji, Tbilisi Pride, Gen Z, Tsertili, Dafioni, Students for European Future, Movement for Freedom, Shame Movement, Franklin’s Club, and Georgia’s Future Academy.

“I call on all citizens to dissociate themselves from the violent actions of these groups, which are completely dictated by narrow partisan and anti-state motives,” – Kobakhidze stated.

He pledged to persist in passing the law and said the violence might happen, but eventually, the protesters would tire. But promised once the law is passed, the country will be “safe from long-term polarization and radicalization.” While saying the police violence yesterday was “isolated incidents” and “difficult to watch,” he explained actions by some policemen by “violence and verbal abuse” they were subjected to. He called on the MIA to act with the utmost patience when they faced violence from the protestors and thanked them for their service during the April 30 rally.

Regarding the injured during the rally, Prime Minister Kobakhidze said that there were only four demonstrators “with minor injuries” who went to the hospital and were soon released, while six policemen were “seriously injured”—commenting on Levan Khabeishvili, UNM leader, saying that it wasn’t pleasant to see his injuries and that “unfortunately, violence begets violence.”

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