Culture minister and new deputy prime minister Tea Tsulukiani has argued for a law restricting “fake news”, which journalists have interpreted as a threat against Georgia’s diverse media ecosystem. Some observers have taken the government’s rhetoric as marking a turn towards Hungarian-style illiberalism, where the government declares that minorities cannot stand in the way of the interests of the majority. “The times when the minority decided the fate of the majority are gone,” he said, insisting that he would act in the interests of “95 per cent” of the country.
Following the attacks, he went further, largely refusing to condemn the attacks on LGBT activists and journalists. The episode is troubling not only for showing how rife homophobia is in Georgia but also for what it reveals about the government, led by Irakli Garibashvili of the Georgian Dream party.īefore the planned Pride rally, Garibashvili darkly warned of “civil confrontation” if the event were to go ahead. In a harsh rebuke to one of its closest allies in the region, the US has threatened sanctions on Georgia if the perpetrators of the violence are not brought to justice. (The government claimed that Lashkarava may have overdosed on drugs a claim contested by the opposition.)
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One, Lekso Lashkarava of TV Pirveli, died days after the rally, although the exact cause of death is still unclear. Dozens of journalists were beaten, according to estimates by Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom watchdog. In response, homophobic crowds, including some priests, rallied on the city’s main thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue.Ī mob, chanting anti-LGBT slogans, ransacked the office of Tbilisi Pride and other liberal groups. A Pride March was to be held to conclude the week but was cancelled after far-right groups threatened to respond to the march with violence. Several events planned for this month by Tbilisi Pride had to be held under police protection. Nonetheless, Pride 2021 marked a new low in the conservative country’s recent history. The parade planned earlier this month for Tbilisi Pride, a pro-LGBT rights demonstration in Georgia’s capital, was not the first to be met with controversy.