Coalition for European Georgia States that Police Had to Deal with Extremists on May 26th

The Coalition For European Georgia calls on the government to make adequate steps towards the participants and organizers of the rallies staged by the People’s Assembly.
The Coalition For European Georgia released a special statement at the press conference today.

Representatives of the coalition state 21-26 May rallies were not in national interests; they were aimed at stirring up violence, bloodshed and hampering of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. As the member of the coalition Levan Cholokashvili stated this fact is a big challenge for young Georgian democracy.

“Police had to deal not with peaceful demonstrators, but with extremists. Consequently, crackdown of the rally with the use of force was fair,” - the coalition members said.
The coalition called on the government to investigate the 26 May development and make adequate steps towards the organizers and participants of the event.

According to Gia Nodia, it is natural that the public has questions. “When the ordinary performers are punished and the state is inadequate towards the organizers I get the impression that there is a disproportion between the state rhetoric and legal actions,” – stated Nodia.

On the question of interpressnews whether their request envisages raising criminal responsibility of the organizers of Public Assembly, Gia Nodia states that he cannot give legal assessment, however the material disseminated by MIA gives possibility for raising criminal responsibility of both the certain participants and the organizers.

Gia Nodia stated that putting emphasis on the fact that the police exceeded force is an inadequate attitude towards the situation.

“There was an organization, a network the goal of which was initiating the civil war and mass violence, on the other hand – a group which tried to protect public from this violence. When we evaluate this situation in general, we should have a well tuned moral compass to assess what is bigger threat and what we should pay attention to in the first place. First part is often neglected,” – stated Nodia.

According to him, when we request proportionate action from the government, each citizen must be proportionate in its assessments.

“According to my information, there were instances of use of excessive force, but I do not have basis to think that the use of excessive force had systemic nature. This was lack of professionalism of certain individuals or uncertain calculation in concrete situation, but this problem does not have a tragic nature,” – stated Nodia.

One more member of Coalition for European Georgia Mikheil Tavkhelidze considers that the government is tolerant towards Nino Burjanadze.

As Tavkhelidze stated to interpressnews, if the government has sufficient evidence for raising criminal responsibility of Nino Burjanadze, he is surprised why it has not happened so far.

“Considering the political expedience, the government is a lot soft and tolerant towards Nino Burjanadze than I expected it,” – stated Tavkhelidze.

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