▲bust of Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi. (on.ge)
Bust of Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi. (on.ge)
Georgian drug policy reform advocates have marked the anniversary of police raids on night clubs Bassiani and Café Gallery in the capital Tbilisi.
Recently formed advocacy group 12 May, named after the night of the raids, draped banners over bridges and on public spots in Tbilisi bearing anti-government messages. These included references to the raids, the country’s harsh drug policies, as well as ironic references to their environmental policy, alleged control over the media, and scandals over leaked tapes.
In an address published on the group’s website on Sunday morning, they said that on the night of the raid ‘the Georgian government pointed a gun at the people gathered in free spaces to dance and got in response the unity of tens of thousands of committed individuals.’
Addressing the government directly, the post said: ‘not only do you not love this country, but you also have no hope of changing it, because you don’t know how to do it […] What you fear is a voice calling for change.’
Another group of activists placed a white bust of Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi.
The installation had a red button, which when pushed, played an audio recording of Gakharia apologising from last year’s protests.
The raids
Gakharia apologised in front of thousands of protesters, predominantly young people, at the same spot on Rustaveli Avenue on 14 May 2018, after negotiating with the leaders of the protest.
Protesters had demanded his resignation after heavily armed police raided two of the city’s most popular nightclubs in the early hours of 12 May.
Chaos erupted after police forcefully dispersed a spontaneous rally in front of the Bassiani nightclub immediately after the raids, and several journalists were injured during the brawl.
Zuka Berdzenishvili, one of the creators of the Gakharia bust, told the Georgian Public Broadcaster that the idea behind the installation was to point out that Gakharia’s apology ‘had no value’, and that he still owed an apology to the public, which was now available through the bust.
‘He apologised in front of the public exactly at this spot a year ago for violent acts committed by the system. Then he promised to make up for all of it. Among the promises were to prioritise human security and to dismantle repressive drug policies, among others. None of these was fulfilled. Instead, to the contrary, the problems got worse’, he said.
Demonstration proceeds in front of the Georgian Parliament where protesters dance to electronic music after yesterday’s raid on nightclubs #Bassiani#tbilisipic.twitter.com/mgBAQhOatf
Gakharia, who since December 2017 has also held to post of vice prime minister and who was recently appointed the head of reformed National Security Council, argued on several occasions that there could be no ‘no-go zones’ for police, and that there had been a decrease in drug overdoses after the raids.
‘We will protect the freedom of expression of this bust just like we did then [in 2018]’, Gakharia said on Sunday.
He also insisted that the government had ensured freedom of speech ‘of all parties’ during the protests.
On the night of 13 May, police escorted those protesting against the police raids away from the parliament building, ultimately giving the spot to a far-right counter-rally that denounced the ‘propaganda of drugs and the LGBT’.
Activists dance in front of police a few hours after raids. (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
The frustration among those participating in what was dubbed the ‘rave revolution’ last year grew on Monday after news broke that on the previous night, police briefly detained Zviad Gelbakhiani, a co-owner of Bassiani, and Dato Laghidze, one of the original members of drug reform group the White Noise Movement.
Stalemate and failed cannabis legalisation
On the occasion of the anniversary, local rights group the Human Rights Monitoring and Education Centre (EMC) accused Gakharia of failing to deliver his promise to ‘solve the drug policy reform issue “within days”’ of last May’s protests.
EMC said the government and parliament’s legal affairs committee which is controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, have been silent regarding this process and have yet to reach out to drug policy reform advocates.
According to EMC, while the ruling party ‘relegated just and progressive decisions for the constitutional court to make’, the expectations of those imprisoned on drug charges were never met.
Following a Constitutional Court ruling that legalised cannabis use a month and a half after the May 2018 protests, the interior ministry surprised the public with their own plan to legalise cannabis production and exports.
Facing protest from the Georgian Orthodox Church in September, the government dropped the idea and also adopted a set of restrictive measures for cannabis use in December. The government did not return to the issue of decriminalising drug use.
Controversial Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia is slated to become the country’s next prime minister, the fifth under the rule of Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party.
The ‘Shame!’ campaign by the For Freedom group, which has been demanding Gakharia’s resignation since June, called on people to protest his nomination for prime minister, which was unveiled earlier on Tuesday by Georgian Dream Chair Bidzina Ivanishvili.
‘It’s a slap into the face of so
Georgia’s Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia has apologised over police raids on two popular nightclubs in Tbilisi. Gakharia met with protest leaders during a rally in front of Tbilisi’s parliament building on Sunday evening. Far-right groups, who have been holding counter-demonstrations against ‘drug dealers and LGBT propagandists’ vowed to continue to protest.
Thousands of protesters had been demanding Gakharia and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili resign following the raids on the Ba
Thousands of people rallied on 12 May against the nightclub raids and police violence, demanding the PM and Interior Minister’s resignations.
The rally in front of Tbilisi’s parliament building followed a police raid on popular nightclubs Bassiani and Café Gallery. According to Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, the eight arrested drug dealers were apprehended before the raids, not in the course of them as previously assumed.
[Read more about the raids on OC Media: Eight arrested in ‘anti-dru
Masked police raided two popular Tbilisi nightclubs, Bassiani and Café Gallery under the pretence of detaining drug traffickers on the night of 11 May. Police forcibly removed club-goers from the venues and clashes ensued.
According to the Interior Ministry’s statement, eight suspected drug traffickers aged 21–30 were arrested following three-month-long ‘intensive investigative activities’ in several Tbilisi nightclubs.
More people were detained in the aftermath of the raids, including dr
