Lots of of opponents of homosexual rights have swarmed the location of an LGBT pageant within the capital of the nation of Georgia, vandalizing the stage, setting fires and looting the occasion’s bar
Georgian opponents of homosexual rights shout anti-LGBT pageant slogans as they attempt to intervene with a pleasure occasion in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, July 8, 2023.Lots of of opponents of homosexual rights on Saturday swarmed the location of an LGBT pageant within the capital of the nation of Georgia, vandalizing the stage, setting fires and looting the occasion’s bar. (AP Photograph/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
The Related Press
TBILISI, Georgia — Lots of of opponents of homosexual rights on Saturday swarmed the location of an LGBT pageant within the capital of the nation of Georgia, vandalizing the stage, setting fires and looting the occasion’s bar.
Deputy Georgian Inside Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze mentioned individuals within the Tbilisi Satisfaction Fest had been safely evacuated from the scene. Pageant organizers known as on folks to not come to the lakeside park the place the occasion was to be held.
Georgian information media estimated about 5,000 folks marched towards the location. Lots of them waved Georgian flags and carried spiritual icons.
Animosity towards sexual minorities is powerful in Georgia, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, and a few earlier LGBT occasions have met violent disruptions.
Darakhvelidze mentioned police tried to hinder the protesters however couldn’t maintain all of them again.
However the occasion organizers criticized police as ineffectual, saying in a press release: “The police didn’t block the entry street to the pageant website in an effort to stop an aggressive group. The police didn’t use proportional drive towards the attackers.”