"Do not even dream of... conversations, coups, raids, falling out... turning over, turning over in their own offices if they want, and leaving the parliament and the buildings of state agencies," said Georgia's Internal Affairs Minister, Vakhtang Gomelauri, regarding the recordings broadcast by pro-government television channels. None of the entries have been verified.
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"What we heard is sad. If it is under our control, we will start an investigation into this matter or, if there are signs of a crime, an investigation will be initiated. Authenticity needs to be ascertained.
I prefer not to state outright as proof that this is true.
What we were hearing was terrible. We saw what they were doing on live broadcasts. Therefore, it is accurate information. It is not the first case, unfortunately," said Vakhtang Gomelauri.
The minister commented yesterday on the video material distributed by the Internal Affairs Ministry, which shows the crackdown on rallies in foreign countries.
"On that night, when young people attacked the doors of the Parliament, burned, broke cameras, set fires, etc., not a single policeman came out, so that there was no clash, these children were not injured, we took into account as much as possible. The next morning, we saw statements by ambassadors and representatives of other countries that the police used disproportionate force. Really funny! When in their own countries, instead of water cannons, police dogs, and rubber bullets are used, which I say is legal, we refrained from it as much as possible. Against this background, to say that we used excessive force is ridiculous.
Whether it's a water cannon, gas, tear gas, pepper spray, or rubber bullets, we have every legal right to use them.
I want to address everyone, those young people, those children who are my son's age and maybe even younger. I also address the heads and leaders of these young people, who give them tasks, and for some reason, when the situation is tense, these people disappear; when everything is over, they come out, they make comments with great attitude. I call on the parents of these children to understand that freedom of speech is protected in our country. They can hold a rally, but they should not cross the line. We try our best to take care of these children. We Georgians are not many; we are very few, and this is our youth. We are trying our best to be careful and not to use the means that we can use by law. Believe me, in recent years, we have not used even 20% of all the opportunities that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has," Gomelauri said.
On April 3, 2024, the ruling Georgian Dream once again initiated the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents in the parliament, which was withdrawn a year ago as a result of thousands of protests, and promised to never accept it again. The Russian Law requires independent media and non-governmental organizations that operate with grant support from international funds and cannot be controlled by the government or related groups to register as foreign agents. Mass protests against the Russian Law have been held in Tbilisi since April 15. Georgian Dream has already accepted the bill in two readings. The final hearing is scheduled for the week of May 13.
