On Saturday, The Pride Week event in Tbilisi was called off and attendees were bussed to safety. The organizers have accused authorities of being complicit in the face of far-right threats of violence. The organizers behind Georgia’s Pride Week were forced to cancel an event after thousands of far-right demonstrators and other opponents of LGBTQ+ rights stormed the venue. The open-air event at a park outside Tbilisi was called off after the demonstrators destroyed the stage, burned rainbow flags, and looted the event’s bar. Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze said, “The protesters managed to find ways to enter the event area, but we were able to evacuate the Pride participants and organizers.” The far-right groups had publicly incited violence against LGBTQ+ activists. They accused authorities of being complicit amid these threats. Pride organizers claimed that police did not adequately block the access road to the festival site or use proportionate force against the far-right demonstrators. According to local media reports, the protesters — numbering as many as 5,000 — waved Georgian flags and carried religious icons. Georgia’s figurehead President Salome Zurabishvili said the government “must ensure that the Pride festival is held in safety.”
