On July 11, several thousand people took to the streets and headed to the parliament building demanding the resignation of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in connection with the death of a journalist who was beaten by LGBT opponents during a rally.
Earlier in the day, the leaders of the opposition parties «United National Movement», «Lelo for Georgia» and «United Georgia-Democratic Movement», as well as civil activists began to gather at the office of the ruling party to demand the resignation of the government.
The protesters tried to enter the building to talk to the leadership of the ruling party, but the police did not allow them to do so. Several activists were injured. The detainees are not reported, and the protesters are calling on their supporters to gather on Rustaveli Avenue to once again demand the resignation of the government.
Both politicians, civil activists and ordinary citizens take part in the demonstration: they shout slogans about the resignation of the prime minister, and police squads are mobilized on the spot.
Why did the journalist become a victim of clashes?
On July 1, the «Pride Week» began in Tbilisi, during which representatives of the LGBT community held a number of events. The final «March» was to take place on Monday at 17:00.
But supporters of traditional values began holding a rally in the morning, blocking the central Rustaveli Avenue. They threw sticks and bottles at journalists and TV channel operators several times, according to media reports, more than 50 journalists were injured. Later, the organizers announced that the march was canceled.
On July 5, a TV cameraman of the Pirveli channel and his colleague were attacked by opponents of LGBT representatives near the office of the Sirtskhvilia organization, not far from the Georgian parliament. Opponents of the LGBT community tried several times to break through the police cordon, throwing stones and bottles at the participants of the peaceful rally. The victim was hospitalized with fractures of the bones of the face, he needed surgery.
A few days later, the journalist was found dead in his home.
“TV Pirveli expresses its deep condolences over the death of a member of our team, Lexo Lashkarava,” — the TV company said in a statement.
On July 7, a silence rally was held in the center of Tbilisi in front of the parliament building with the participation of politicians who expressed their condolences and paid tribute to the memory of the injured journalists during the anti-LGBT rally held on Monday, July 5.
The protesters of the journalist demand an investigation of the causes of Lashkarava’s death by independent experts, the punishment of all those responsible for the attack on the cameraman, as well as the prosecution of the organizers of the anti-LGBT rally.
“He was beaten, his head was smashed, kicked in the name of God and with the help of the police, after which he died. He was killed by rapists and the inaction of the police,” — said Nika Oboladze, a member of the opposition United National Movement party.
According to Georgian media, the symbol of the action is blood: as a sign of solidarity with journalists who were injured during the riots in Tbilisi, people came to the rally in shirts drenched in red paint.
In a statement, the civil activists said: “The Ministry of Internal Affairs failed to protect journalists from physical violence and did not ensure the safe operation of the media…Most of the facts of attacks on journalists, obstruction of media activities and violence have not yet been investigated.”
Garibashvili himself expressed his condolences on the death of Lashkarav. The Prime Minister stressed that a case was opened on the fact of the operator’s death and an investigation was launched.
