Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday said, “If the main feature of dissident and Georgian Dream rallies was sincere prayer and singing, now the main feature of radical opposition rallies is throwing Molotov cocktails and stones.”

The PM stated that “the collective United National Movement (UNM), whose main pillar of governance in 2004-2012, along with lies, was violence, is now trying to erase this very sign of Georgian culture and establish the so-called culture of the violent protest.”

According to Kobakhidze, “The United National Movement, which back then was brought to power by external forces via violence and throwing stones, and its one of the main characteristics was violence against peaceful protesters, is now violent as the opposition.”

“Naturally, the state cannot and will not allow the collective United National Movement and its foreign patrons to replace the Georgian culture of peaceful protest with the non-Georgian incivility of violent protest.

The United National Movement’s use of violence and a lack of culture while in power and now in opposition is unknown to Georgian culture.

Its establishment in Georgia is tied to the black money that the radical opposition and its international backers are currently striving to hide,” the PM added.