Media hunted: Over twenty reporters injured during anti-Pride rally in Tbilisi
Journalists attacked at anti-Tbilisi Pride rally
According to the latest information, more than 20 reporters were seriously injured during an anti-pride rally organized by homophobic groups in Tbilisi on 5 July.
Several journalists’ heads were bruised, some received concussion and eye injuries, others had their teeth knocked out, and obtained numerous bruises on their bodies. Most of them needed hospitalization.
The equipment of several media outlets was destroyed.
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For several hours, the protesters severely beat, insulted and threw various objects at photographers and cameramen.
All this happened on the air. The police were unable to apprehend the violators.
The only thing that the law enforcement officers tried to do was to protect the reporters from aggressive groups with live chains and, together with the patrol brigades, take them to safe places.
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“This is a hunt for the media”, many wrote on social media.
“They dragged me 200 meters. About a hundred people beat me and not a single policeman showed up to protect me. The only policeman appeared at the entrance to the Kashveti church, but he was powerless. The crowd beat me, not caring whether I was a journalist or not. There were priests and organizers of the rally. I covered my head and asked for help but no one came to help, they wanted to kill me”, said Rati Tsverava, journalist of the Formula TV company.
“Now you see that the journalists are being stoned. This is a few minutes before Tbilisi Pride announced the postponement of the march”, photographer Mariam Nikuradze said after posting this photo on social media.
“We left the office and were sitting in the car when hate groups attacked us to interfere with our journalistic activities. My nose is probably broken and my teeth are damaged”, journalist of Radio Liberty Tornike Mandaria said on social media. Radio Liberty operator Dato Koridze was also injured.
The list of injured journalists is extensive.
This list includes almost all TV channels: Mtavari Arkhi, Formula, TV Pirveli, Rustavi 2, Channel One, Imedi, as well as online news agencies including Netgazeti, Tabula, On. Ge. , Journalists “Guria News”. This list may not be complete, as journalists are still being attacked by the far-right mobs.
Local journalists say they were targeted and deliberately beaten by violent radical groups.
“It was not the police who were supposed to stand here, but the special forces. How many journalists got beaten? I watched these people chase journalists to kill them and there were only a couple of cops.
Unfortunately, this day will go down in history as the day when we were persecuted and when the government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs proved incompetent in protecting journalists”, writes Marika Nikuradze, photographer and co-founder of OC Media.
The executives of Mtavari, Formula and TV Pirvel held a briefing and said that the government is not protecting the safety of journalists and cameramen; they will have to somehow protect their employees because they see no other way out.
Later, the director of Mtavari Arkhi Nika Gvaramia urged all film crews of the channel to leave the territory of the rally. According to him, despite the high public interest in the event, the lives of journalists are in danger.
“I decided, despite the huge public interest, to withdraw all the groups and stop covering this abomination, primarily because of the threat to the health and life of my journalists”, Nika Gvaramia said.
The management of the Palitra media holding also decided to temporarily suspend its work.
“While there is tension and until order is restored on the main avenue, our journalists will be evacuated from there. Several of our journalists were taken to the hospital by an ambulance team”, said the TV channel.
Today, numerous organizations have responded to violence against the media.
The Charter of Journalistic Ethics of Georgia has called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ensure the safety of journalists and create a safe working environment for media in the course of their professional activities.
According to Transparency International Georgia, the state’s response to violence against the media does not stand up to scrutiny, and its inaction further encourages aggressive groups.
“Prior to the break out of the persecution of the media, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that he considered the July 5 march inappropriate and that the radical revanchist opposition was behind its organizers. With this statement, the Prime Minister of Georgia practically encouraged violence. It is also a signal to law enforcement officials that it could have unintended consequences”, Transparency International Georgia said in a statement.
Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria said at a special briefing that today the journalists have shown civic heroism.
“I would like to express my respect, solidarity, and support to the journalists who have shown civic heroism today. They covered current events at the expense of their health. Today’s journalists are human rights defenders whose heroic work prevented the worst from happening. They also documented the violence”.
The Georgian Interior Ministry launched an investigation into the incident on two counts: obstruction of the work of journalists and violence. Nobody has been detained yet.
