“The regime is poisoning us!” — thousands march in Tbilisi demanding an international investigation. Photos&video
Poison used against protesters in Georgia
“The regime is poisoning us!» and «We need an international investigation!» – with these slogans, large protests were held across Tbilisi on the evening of December 6, including a massive march from the Philharmonic to the Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue.
On December 1, the BBC published an investigation alleging that the Georgian government may have used kamit, a World War I–era chemical agent, to suppress anti-government protests in late 2024. The report claims the substance may have been added to water cannons used to disperse demonstrators.
The State Security Service of Georgia announced on December 6 that it had completed its investigation into the BBC’s claims and categorically rejected its version regarding the use of “kamit.”
“A chemical substance was added to the water, but it was not ‘kamit’ — it was chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, which is not a banned substance,” said Lasha Maghradze, First Deputy Head of the State Security Service, at a briefing.
Maghradze stressed that the Interior Ministry has never purchased “kamit,” the substance mentioned in the BBC report. Chlorobenzylidene malononitrile was purchased from an Israeli company in 2007 (that is, before the Georgian Dream party came to power, during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili).
During transportation, the substance was assigned the international shipping code UN3439, and the accompanying solvent was assigned UN1710. These codes are recorded in the customs documentation and are the ones the BBC cites in its publication, Maghradze said.
- “This is not ‘кamit’” – Georgian security services officially refute BBC claims of chemical poisoning of protesters
- Opinion: ‘Question of Georgia’s use of chemical weapons should should be subject to international investigation’
- ‘We stand by our journalism’: BBC responds to accusations from Georgian authorities
- Rights groups long warned water cannons contained chemicals, Georgian lawyer says
He stressed that the State Security Service had completed only the investigation into which chemical substance was used in the water cannons to disperse anti-government protests. The investigation under Article 319 of the Criminal Code — “aiding a foreign organization in hostile activities” — is still ongoing.
The protest march was organized by democratic political parties and civil society groups.
They said the SSS’s statements did not dispel their suspicions — on the contrary, they reinforced them.
Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s fifth president, who also took part in the march, told journalists that “we have not received answers to our questions.”
“We don’t know what substance was used to disperse the protests in 2024. Statements from the leaders of Georgian Dream and the SSG investigation do not provide a convincing answer. One says one thing, another says something else. Public reaction is growing, international reaction is growing, and Georgian Dream is becoming increasingly confused,” Zourabichvili said.
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