Everyone has the right to protest and self-expression, with only one caveat – it must be peaceful. Period! No one has the legitimacy to violate the law, break down gates, and insult police officers, this is anti-Georgian behavior and what is anti-Georgian is anti-European, Parliament Chairman Shalva Papuashvili told reporters in connection with the demonstration held near the Parliament yesterday.

According to Papuashvili, the protest was peaceful though there were groups at the demonstration “who had the objective to stage a provocation and turn to violence.”

He also stated that “today they are twisting the hand of the Parliament of Georgia, that is, the Georgian people.”

Yesterday, we saw that there was a peaceful demonstration, the police were protecting the security of the demonstration, everything was taking place as befits Georgian protest movements. And there were groups whose objective was to stage a provocation and turn to violence, and we saw what they did in the end – picketing. It was the same leaders of the National Movement that led this demonstration. When they see that a peaceful demonstration by the citizens of Georgia is taking place, they immediately start calling for a siege, picketing, violence. The Ministry of Internal Affairs repeatedly pointed out that their responsibility is to ensure the operation of the Parliament. Therefore, let the protesters demonstrate and let the Parliament work – one should not interfere with the other,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.

He also answered a question about the statement made by opposition Parliament Deputy Devi Chankotadze at the plenary session yesterday, who said that adopting the law “will lead to bad events.”

According to Papuashvili, “such statements are absolutely unacceptable, especially from a military serviceman.”

“What does it mean, ‘if something happens?’ What was taking place in the evening caught my attention,” Papuashvili stated.

According to him, this was a slip of the tongue.

“There was a slip of the tongue, according to which the aggression can only have originated with the radical groups. We saw that they came prepared yesterday, with breathing masks. We also saw their calls. The NGOs, who are accomplices, are sowing hysteria. By shouting Russia, they are playing down the real threats emanating from Russia. By shouting about Russia out of context in every other sentence, they render what they are saying meaningless. We saw yesterday and the day before that violence originated with these groups, the police acted professionally. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is ensuring the safety of the rally participants on the one hand while protecting public order on the other; when this order is disturbed, the relevant units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs react to this in line with their protocol,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.