Protest in front of Parliament held in solidarity with the death of TV Pirveli cameraman
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, July 12
Yesterday, a rally was held in front of the Parliament on Rustaveli Avenue calling on the government as well as the Prime Minister of the country to resign. The protesters said that the government of Georgia is responsible for the death of the TV Pirveli cameraman, Lekso Lashkarava.
Opposition parties, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and certain media outlets, joined the rally. In honor of Lashkarava, candles were symbolically lit, and flowers were brought to the parliament. Rustaveli Avenue was blocked due to a large number of protesters present in front of the parliament building.
There were numerous people present at the rally, including the journalists of numerous media outlets, including TV Pirveli, Mtavari TV, Imedi TV, Formula, and numerous others.
Inga Grigolia, TV Pirveli anchor, addressed the people gathered on Rustaveli Avenue. She talked about the death of the TV Pirveli cameraman and noted that ‘Irakli Garibashvili should resign’, and with him, every member of violence groups should follow.
Another Journalist, Vakho Sanaia said that “Garibashvili is no longer the Prime Minister of Georgia.” According to him, the government should resign and should be held accountable for the death of Lekso Lashkarava.
The former President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, was also present at the rally on Rustaveli Avenue. He said that yesterday’s tragedy was the responsibility of the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. He said that people should not leave the protest and should stand there together, until the Prime Minister pays the political price for what happened on July 5.
According to him, he does not believe in the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The director of the TV Pirveli, Vato Tsereteli said that Bidzina Ivanishvili has a very short time to get rid of Garibashvili as the Prime Minister of the country. He also added that the whole government should resign.
Protests were held in other parts of Georgia as well. Journalists and media representatives, as well as civilians, gathered in numerous cities of Georgia, including Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori, Rustavi, and many others.
A rally was held in front of the Georgian Embassy in Belgium. Activists left banners at the embassy, reading ‘Violence against the media is unacceptable’, ‘Journalists are being beaten and killed in Georgia’, ‘No to abusers’, ‘Georgia is in danger, no to Russian propaganda,’ ‘Human rights are being violated,’ etc.
On July 5, out of the 55 injured, 53 were media representatives.
