‘Not women but provocateurs’: Georgian government’s response to attack on activists and journalists
Attack on activists and journalists in Georgia
Members of Georgia’s government commented on the incident of 8 September outside the campaign headquarters of Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze, where, according to protesters, pro-government titushki assaulted several demonstrators, including women.
Kaladze himself said those at the rally were “not women but provocateurs, who swear and insult.” He claimed that “hired young people” had deliberately come to the headquarters to escalate tensions, and that the beatings were “a response to provocation.”
What happened
On 8 September, more than a dozen protesters and journalists were injured in clashes outside the campaign headquarters of Kakha Kaladze. According to the opposition, the attackers were members of the youth wing of Georgian Dream.
Among those injured were reporters from Public and Netgazeti, as well as Hungarian journalist László Mecze.
The interior ministry has launched an investigation under the article “participation in group violence,” but so far none of the assailants have been detained.
What does the government say?
Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze insisted that members of his campaign team had not used violence against women — because, in his view, the female protesters did not count as such.
“Where do you see women here? Not one of them is a woman, they are some other breed. Show me who among them is a woman. Those who attacked the campaign headquarters yesterday are people sowing division in society, trying to split it. And you are no different from them,” Kaladze told a journalist who asked about the incident.
He said he expected international organisations, including the EU ambassador to Georgia, to assess what happened. According to him, it was “a very serious and deliberate provocation, not the first of its kind”:
“I hope international organisations and the EU ambassador will treat us with respect and give their assessment of this fact. It is unthinkable that during an election campaign [ahead of municipal elections] aggressive people attack you, insult you and disrupt your work. All this is being done to artificially create tension.”
Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili called the incident “a clear example of external interference” aimed at creating a hostile election climate.
He claimed the process involved not only extremist groups “encouraged by certain foreign diplomats” but also “propaganda platforms funded from abroad.”
“Among them is Netgazeti, financed by Brussels, which not only spreads propaganda of violence but also organises violent attacks on the Georgian Dream campaign headquarters,” Papuashvili said.
Levan Machavariani, head of the campaign headquarters, also commented on the incident.
He claimed the office had been attacked by “a group of adherents of liberal fascism in Georgia.”
“We are Georgians, and dignity is an inseparable part of our genetic code. When they target your dignity deliberately, shouting terrible things, it is very hard to restrain yourself. We cannot always hold back people in our headquarters when this happens. Although of course I urge all our supporters to refrain [from violence], because that is exactly what the provocateurs want,” Machavariani said, explaining the assault on the protesters.
News in Georgia
