Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said, “In the last few days, we witnessed an assault on the Parliament by agitated youth groups, organized, led and encouraged by the radical opposition political parties and a group of NGOs.”

“Regrettably, none of the foreign embassies and international donor organizations registered in Georgia condemned these violent episodes,” the Speaker noted.

“The police restrained themselves to defending the premises of the Parliament. They only used force for securing the entrances to the Parliament or responded to the attempts of incursion inside the building.

On Wednesday, during the particularly violent assault, the police kept the perimeter exclusively inside the Parliament premises. Despite the fact that the attackers met no hindrance against their freedom of movement or expression, they kept attacking and vandalizing the Parliament, the most important institution and symbol of Georgian democracy.

Eight Georgian policemen were hospitalized and one of them underwent an emergency surgical operation. Regrettably, none of the foreign embassies and international donor organizations registered in Georgia condemned these violent episodes. Moreover, many of them repeatedly called the violent attacks ‘peaceful’. Our sad experience tells us that ignoring violence encourages even more violence in future. I regret that despite the close cooperation between the Georgian Parliament and the foreign embassies and donors, there was not enough goodwill and integrity in adequately assessing the violence against Georgia’s national institutions,” Papuashvili asserted.

 

In the last few days, we witnessed an assault on the Parliament by agitated youth groups, organized, led and encouraged by the radical opposition political parties and a group of NGOs.

The police restrained themselves to defending the premises of the Parliament. They only used… pic.twitter.com/3Y9ZOEVZHs

— Shalva Papuashvili 🇬🇪 (@shpapuashvili) May 3, 2024

;