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(Reuters) – Up to 2,000 anti-LGBT protesters broke up a Gay Pride festival in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on Saturday, scuffled with police and destroyed props including rainbow flags and signs, although there were no reports of injuries.
Organizers accused the authorities of actively collaborating with the protesters to disrupt the festival, but a minister said it was a difficult event to monitor because it was held in an open area, near a lake.
“The protesters managed to find ways to enter the area of the event, but we were able to evacuate the Pride participants and organizers,” Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze told reporters.
“No one was injured in the incident and police are now taking steps to stabilize the situation.”
The director of Tbilisi Pride confirmed to Reuters that all event participants had been taken to safety by buses, but criticized authorities’ police surveillance of the Pride event, which she said was being held privately for the second consecutive year to reduce the risk of such reduce violent protests. .
Mariam Kvaratskhelia said that in the days leading up to the Pride events, far-right groups had publicly incited violence against LGBT+ activists and that police and the Interior Ministry had refused to investigate.
“I definitely think this (disruption) was a pre-planned, coordinated action between the government and the radical groups… We think this operation was planned to sabotage Georgia’s EU candidacy,” she said.
Police and government officials were not immediately available for comment on her allegations.
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However, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a frequent critic of the government, echoed the police’s criticism, saying they had failed in their duty to uphold people’s right to gather safely.
Georgia is striving to join the European Union, but the ruling Georgian Dream Party has faced growing criticism from rights groups and the EU for its perceived proclivity for authoritarianism.
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After violent street protests in March, it withdrew a Russian-style bill that would have required non-governmental organizations that received more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence”.
Georgia has passed laws against discrimination and hate crimes, but LGBT+ rights groups say there is insufficient protection from law enforcement and homophobia remains widespread in the socially conservative South Caucasus country.
Two years ago, several journalists were beaten during attacks on LGBT+ activists in Tbilisi. One of the journalists, cameraman Alexander Lashkarava, was later found dead in his home, sparking angry protests in the Georgian capital.
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Ros Russell)
