Gharibashvili Says 'certain Individuals' Damaged a Peaceful Demonstration of prayer

Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, at a joint briefing with EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on the events of July 5-6, claims that the police acted accordingly for the two days.

In particular, Gharibashvili says that on July 5, the police mobilized 3,500 police officers.

According to him, the homophobic and violent groups that attacked the media representatives at the rally have nothing to do with the church and the government.

However, the Prime Minister echoed the statement of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and said that before the Pride March, the Ministry of Internal Affairs offered an alternative venue to the organizers of Pride.

Speaking about the violent events of July 5, Gharibashvili also recalled his statements.

"For 2-3 days these people were given another location, close to Tbilisi, there were no hindrances. But our forces assessed the risks and dangers posed by the organizers of the counter rally, we warned them publicly in advance, and among them, I came out and called that it was not appropriate to hold this march in the center of Tbilisi, because it contained great risks and there was a danger of civil strife, and our recommendation was to hold the event in another place, as they did in the previous days, and the police would protect them," Gharibashvili said.

Gharibashvili reiterated that "the provocation was in the interests of the radical opposition."

"On July 5, before 11 o'clock, the mobilization started, representatives of the counter action appeared on the street and some of the most aggressive people attacked the journalists.

This harmed both the demonstration of peaceful prayer planned by the Church and our government, thus harming our country.

In my estimation, and this, of course, will be determined by the investigation, it was a deliberate provocation of violence committed by certain individuals, which would eventually lead to, in their estimation, a deep confrontation and clash with the police, certainly damaging our country's image, church image and finally Overall, of course, the image of the EU as well. In conclusion, I would like to say that this was not in the interests of the Church, our government or our people. "These provocations were in the interests of the radical opposition and a hostile state," Gharibashvili said.