“This was a very serious provocation, and it’s not the first such incident. It has become a daily routine for these people to attack, insult, and abuse others,” declared incumbent Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze regarding the confrontation that occurred near his election headquarters on Melikishvili Avenue.

According to Kaladze, a deliberate provocation is underway aimed at artificially creating tension.

“The election campaign is ongoing, and this is an election headquarters. We’re not attacking anyone or bothering anyone. I hope international organisations, including the EU Embassy and Ambassador, will respect us enough to make appropriate assessments of what happened. It’s simply unthinkable that you could be in the middle of an election campaign and have several violent individuals attack you, interfere with people’s work, and subject them to abuse. This is very serious.

This is a deliberate provocation aimed at deliberately creating tension, as no one cares about those thirty thugs. Nobody’s interested in their complaints or shouting either. This is a gang of violent people.

Therefore, when you deliberately interfere with the operations of an election headquarters, where numerous people are present, and an election campaign is underway, your actions serve a specific purpose: to artificially raise tension.

Thirty people came to the election headquarters. What did these people want at the election headquarters? Did the headquarters come to these people? What does this mean? There isn’t a single woman here. I don’t know what other species they are, but there’s no woman here. Show me one who’s a woman. Show me one person who’s a woman.

You’re also ordinary hooligans, no different from the violent people who attacked the election headquarters yesterday; you’re no different from them. You are people who daily broadcast filth, inflame confrontation in society, and attempt division; that’s who you are. You’re no different from the violent people who attacked the election headquarters yesterday,” Kaladze addressed a TV Pirveli journalist.

Speaking to the media about the local self-government elections, Kakha Kaladze went on to say that “These violent groups are fed from outside through funding from various international organisations, whilst their rating is zero.”

“They want to somehow rally their supporters because they’re utterly demoralised, have no resources for solidarity, and have fallen into nihilism. People see what they represent. Yesterday’s example also proves this, that they are violent people who are fed from outside through the support and funding of various international organisations. Their rating and authority are zero. The Georgian people will deliver their verdict on October 4,” Kaladze declared.

According to the Tbilisi mayor, the opposition employs various tactics to incite confrontations among supporters of Georgian Dream.

“These people are trying to incite some confrontation through such tricks. Neither Burchuladze nor Khabeishvili are distinguished by great intellect, neither one nor the other. So we will peacefully continue our election campaign and, on October 4, we will celebrate victory together with the Georgian people in all municipalities, both in terms of mayors and in assemblies (Sakrebulo),” noted Kakha Kaladze.

A tense confrontation erupted at Kakha Kaladze’s election headquarters on Melikishvili Avenue last night, involving members of the Georgian Dream youth wing and protesters. Both sides exchanged accusations over the attack, which escalated into a physical altercation resulting in injuries.