On 6 July, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili condemned the violence against more than 50 journalists at the Tbilisi Pride counter rally on 5 July committed by right-wing protesters (Caucasus Watch reported).  

“The violence we saw yesterday is completely unacceptable and I want to publicly condemn this fact. What happened yesterday is categorically unacceptable. Violence against journalists is unacceptable and of course, it has to be condemned,” he stated. He also underlined that all individuals will be identified, and all guilty parties will be brought to justice. Overall, 11 people were detained for violence against journalists and for the attack on the offices of Tbilisi Pride and the Shame movement.    

The US Ambassador in Georgia Kelly Degnan met the management of various Georgian TV channels to discuss the events that unfolded. “It is unequivocal that the media should perform its professional duty and it should be protected. We all agree that this is crucial for the country’s development. We discussed recent facts at today’s meeting. We all support scathed media representatives. If our country aspires to achieve a certain level of democracy and development, such facts should be no longer allowed,” said the Director General of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster Tinatin Berdzenishvili at the meeting. 

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic, as well as the EU parliamentarian Viola von Cramon also condemned the violence. The “Constitution of Georgia guarantees the right of peaceful assembly & expression to everyone and it is the obligation of the state to protect these freedoms. When a violent group beats up journalists & LGBT+ [people] while the government watches, it is a dangerous sign of crumbling rule of law. When Georgian leaders from the Georgian Dream party, instead of acting in their mandate as guarantors of the Constitution, speculate with this topic and fail to properly condemn the perpetrators, they only encourage the violence. No wonder that police were unable or unwilling to protect the victims,” Von Cramon tweeted.  

The Georgian Patriarchate released a statement, saying that the blame first of all should fall on the organisers of Tbilisi Pride. “The Georgian Patriarchate, of course, is very concerned that people were injured, most of all journalists. This is a very sad fact. We pray for them and hope that they will recover soon. We do not rule out the possibility that there were people among those on Rustaveli Avenue who were deliberately committing illegal actions. However, we would also like to say the following: The “Pride” planned for 5 July was a propaganda of an untraditional lifestyle and contained signs of moral, psychological, and ideological violence against our population and the next generation, which itself would inevitably provoke a sharp reaction,” the statement emphasised.

“The European Convention on Human Rights reads: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers… The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others…Therefore, we believe that the responsibility for what happened, among others, should be placed first of all on the organisers of “Tbilisi Pride,” who, regardless of the reality in the country, first planned and then did not reject the event, thus putting Western values ​​at risk of discrediting,” the statement added.

Earlier, Senaki and Chkhorotskhu Metropolitan Shio Mujiri, who is the Patriarch Ilia II’s “locum tenens” addressed the crowd at Kashveti Church after the violent attacks, saying that the Georgian society would again unite against LGBT activities anytime in the future. Claiming that Tbilisi Pride organisers and supporters were trying to demonstrate “Sodomic sins” in a positive manner, he said the Georgian people and the church would never accept this.