Tbilisi Pride Event Cancelled After Far-Right Group Storms Festival Grounds

A pride event in Tbilisi, Georgia, was cancelled after members of a far-right group stormed the festival grounds on Saturday, July 8.

Members of the group Alt-Info marched towards the festival grounds in the outskirts of Tbilisi, entered the event space, and destroyed venue installations as the police stood by, local news reported.

Tbilisi Pride, the event organizers, decided to call off the festival and evacuate the venue, they said.

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs had vowed to take “preventive measures” to assure the safety of the Tbilisi Pride event as several groups had threatened to hold a “counter-manifestation,” a statement released on Friday said.

After cancelling the event, Tbilisi Pride accused the Ministry of Internal Affairs of colluding with Alt-Info in its failure to protect the festival.

“Law enforcement representatives failed to protect the Pride Fest Event, did not prevent disruptive actions, and by exfiltrating organizers, de facto cancelled the event,” the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, said.

This footage by local journalist Mariam Nikuradze shows anti-LGBT protesters inside the festival grounds on Saturday. Credit: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media via Storyful