The Director of the Central Criminal Police Department, Teimuraz Kupatadze, held a briefing on Wednesday, warning all the participants and organizers of the rally, that “when law enforcement officers launch their actions in full compliance of the law, to foil the violent actions of the rally participants, strict measures will be applied, similar to the ones practiced in the United States and leading countries of Europe.”

Below is Kupatadze’s full speech as delivered:

“We would like to provide the public with information on international practices of police measures applied by law enforcers in leading European countries as well as in the United States of America on crowd management during gatherings and demonstrations and the use of special means established by law.

In recent period, various political leaders and organizers of manifestation spread huge amount of disinformation through media and social networks on the fact that the law enforcement officers used excessive force against demonstrators and carried out illegal actions.

We would like to note that police always act in accordance with international standards during gatherings and demonstrations. Instructions developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on regulating the management of gatherings and demonstrations, are in full compliance with the OSCE/ODIHR guidelines. Therefore, special measures are being implemented by the law enforcement officers in accordance with internationally recognized standards – coherently and in response to the developments. Considering the mentioned, police acted in a similar way throughout the recent manifestations.

The representatives of Special Tasks Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, within the framework of cooperation with donor organizations, participated in various international trainings and are trained in accordance with international standards.

They have undergone international studies in Georgia, as well as in Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the Republic of Turkey.

Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs underwent trainings on the following topics: response to crisis situations and negotiations, effective management of gatherings and demonstrations, the use of force to ensure public order during public demonstrations.

Special technic, equipment and special means administered by the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are in full compliance with international standards and most of them are purchased in different European states.

Herewith, we would like to introduce public to the video footage of the police actions conducted in different countries, at different times.

Progressive world is unanimous with regards to the fact that the main task of police is maintaining the rule of law and this video footage confirms that in all states, police have the right to act in accordance with the law and within the frames of their mandate, as well as to use the most severe and often unacceptable measures for society.

I would also like to point out that the recent gatherings and demonstrations in Georgia, in particular in Tbilisi, have repeatedly exceeded the limits defined by the legislation on gatherings and demonstrations. We witnessed storming the building of the legislative body, an attempt to picket the parliament, and multiple cases of violence against law enforcement officers.

These video files were not only in the center of attention of Georgian media, but world media as well and my European colleagues will agree that it was a proportional force and rather lenient actions administered by the Georgian law enforcement officers.”