Thousands of far-right protesters storm LGBTQ+ festival in Tbilisi

On July 8, approximately 5,000 far-right protesters stormed Tbilisi Pride Fest, an LGBTQ+ festival in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The far-right movement Alt-Info and several other organizations initiated the protest, which started with several hundred protesters, including members of the Georgian Orthodox Church. As the protesters marched toward the festival, the crowd grew in size to approximately 5,000 people. When the crowd reached the festival grounds, they broke through the cordon created by Georgia’s Internal Affairs Ministry.

The protestors destroyed the festival’s stage and stands, and burned LGBTQ+ flags, as well as a flag of Ukraine. Afterwards, the protestors marched toward the Georgian Parliament Building where they continued to protest against the right of the LGBTQ+ community to host public events. According to Georgia’s Internal Affairs Ministry, no one was injured.

The festival organizers accused Georgia’s Internal Affairs Ministry of working with Alt-Info, and the government of inciting violence. They released a statement that read:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Deputy Minister thereof, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, have been giving us protection guarantees for weeks preceding the festival and even on the festival day. Instead, the police allowed Alt-Info members to trespass into private and enclosed festival territory, to attack peaceful citizens, and to inflict irreparable emotional trauma on them.

This was an organized attack by the Georgian government and the Putinist violent group on democracy, human rights and innocent people who wanted to enjoy the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

Several video clips taken at the festival appear to confirm that the police didn’t resist the rioters as they entered the site of the festival.

In 2021, LGBTQ+ activists from Tbilisi Pride were forced to cancel a march following violent attacks by counter protesters in the Georgian capital. In addition to physically assaulting journalists who had gathered ahead of the march, the anti-Pride protesters broke into the Tbilisi Pride office and set fire to a rainbow flag. One cameraman died after he was attacked, while 50 others were injured.

Translation by Sasha Slobodov