Large Anti-Western Rally Held in Tbilisi

| News, Politics, Georgia

On April 30, a large rally was held in Tbilisi on Republic Square, the slogan of which is "Georgia First." The action organizer is the "Unknown" movement led by a Georgian singer and TV presenter, Gia Gachechiladze.

According to the participants of the rally, the purpose of the gathering was to support the peaceful foreign policy of the country. The participants of the rally brought the Georgia flagA specially arranged stage and monitor have been installed in the Republic Square.

Among the organizers of the rally was the founder of the conservative portal "Georgia First," Vato Shakarishvili, who called Georgia's international partners "sleepless friends" and told the rally participants that it is necessary to think about what Georgia needs more - “unrealistic plans and goals of joining some military union, or neutrality and disfavor.”

Shakarishvili offered the answer to the rally participants and told them that peace, development, and unification of the country are possible only in conditions of neutrality. Saakashvili said that regarding the EU candidate status, people should be ready for an "unfair decision" because "[international partners] are trying to use such circumstances to prepare revolutionary processes in the country."

"They [international partners] want us to be punished for keeping the peace. They want to punish all the people who have contributed to the peace in Georgia today - starting with Bidzina Ivanishvili and ending with each of us," argued Shakarishvili.

Another organizer of the rally, the deputy of the Parliament of the fifth convocation of Georgia (1999-2004), Irakli Gogava, told the protesters that the international partners wanted a "demographic winter of the Georgian nation," "liberal capitalism did not work" and from now on Georgia should start “pursuing a sovereign economic policy.”

"Now that we have become allies, the government and the people, I hope that this alliance will continue and beneficial issues for the country will be resolved," said Gogava, who reiterates the information of the "Georgian Dream" that the "Global War Party" wants to join Georgia in the war, adding that the government and the people Covered from the war. However, Gogava did not specify who does this "party of global war" represent.

At the end of the rally, the initiator and organizer, former deputy of "Georgian Dream," Zaza Papuashvili, read the text with four major political demands:

  1. The "dictatorial regime" of the "National Movement" should be given a political and legal assessment and enforced by appropriate legal mechanisms.
  2. A sovereign economic policy "that will eliminate unemployment, low wages, and poverty" should be implemented. The politicians of the European Union and other countries should respect the state sovereignty of Georgia - "We categorically demand complete non-interference in domestic public political affairs";
  3. To introduce basic education in schools; stop the ideological processing of young people in educational institutions, an effective state program should be implemented to correct the demographic situation. LGBT propaganda should be prohibited by law, and the legal framework should be regulated.
  4. In the case of polarization and political crisis, the Georgian people should be given an opportunity to express their opinion through a plebiscite “so that revolutions and destabilization, and the involvement of other countries in the war against our will, announced unrest, violent change of government, confrontation with each other do not happen, and all this can be avoided.”

Papuashvili added: "We don't like the degradation of European values and ideas happening in Europe today. Instead of helping us to build a European state, you are trying to destroy what we have by putting false values on our heads." He also spoke about the occupation, although using much softer language and without criticizing Russia.

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