EGI Political Digest 63

Home To Europe: A demonstration was held in Tbilisi demanding the resignation of the government

On 3 July, at 8:00 p.m.,  a demonstration was held by the “Home To Europe” movement. The primary demand was the resignation of Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili and the creation of a technical government, based on national consent. The majority of the opposition parties also supported the manifestation.

During the rally, demonstrators also marched toward the Georgian Dream HQ. The MP of Georgian Dream, Dimitri Samkharadze, verbally insulted the demonstrators who came to the office, the video of which he published on Facebook.

Shota Dighmelashvili, one of the leaders of the “Home To Europe” and “Shame” movements, said at the rally that they decided to spend the night near the government chancellery and picket the building in the morning, where the government session was to be held.

In the morning, he announced that “Government sitting could not take place” and the demonstration was over.

“Traditionally, each monday, government sitting takes place here. Today we can not see government and we can not see Gharibashvili. Instead, we see many policemen” – Shota Dighmelashvili stated

According to activists their goal was to make the Prime-Minister, whose resignation they demanded, hear their voices. Hundreds of policement were in the area.

Pride Week in Tbilisi took place

Last week, the “Pride” week was organized by the “Tbilisi Pride” organization supporting the LGBT+ community, which ended with a festival. Representatives of the civil society and the diplomatic corps attended the events held within the week.

Due to the lack of security guarantees, the “Pride” organizers refused to hold the “March of Dignity” this year, but a number of activities took place in closed areas. 

On 1 July, late at night, the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested representatives of far-right groups, including the leaders of the Conservative Movement party and their own “Alt Info” television, more than 40 people in total.

Conservative Party leaders Zura Makharadze and Irakli Martinenko were among the arrested, in addition to Guram Palavandishvili and Aleksandre Palavandishvili.

Representatives of violent groups gathered late at night in Tbilisi at the place where the final event of the Pride festival was held. Due to the threat of violence, the organizers refused to hold the event in public space.

On June 4, the leader of the ultra-right party, Konstantine Morgoshia, announced that the detainees were released based on the signatures.

The President and the opposition critized “Georgian Dream” plan for EU candidacy

The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili and the main opposition parties met with skepticism the plan of the ruling party, “Georgian Dream”, which aims to fulfill 12 recommendations/priorities of the European Commission in order to gain EU candidacy. Chairman of “Georgian Dream”, Irakli Kobakhidze, presented the plan on 1 July.

The general secretary of the United National Movement, Petre Tsiskarishvili, evaluated the ruling party’s proposal as an attempt to weaken the pro-European protest: “If they want to do something, there is no need to talk to the opposition on television, they can initiate the relevant legislations themselves, including taking steps related to de-oligarchization; to arrest and punish those people who are involved in organized crime”.

MP Salome Samadashvili of “Lelo” called the ruling party’s initiative an “imitation of the process”. She said the path to depolarization is the EU-brokered 19 April 2021 agreement between Georgian political parties, which the ruling party abandoned last July.

In Facebook post, President Salome Zurabishvili noted that both the publicized plan of Irakli Kobakhidze and the calls of opposition for the resignation of Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili “have nothing to do with real national consent or the action plan necessary for receiving the European candidacy”.