We saw that on the first day, if there was some violence, the next day there were statements by some ambassadors and European politicians about how white, fluffy and peaceful the stone-throwing was - after that, this group of violent people got even more incited and we saw more violence, - the Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, said while talking to journalists about the ongoing protests in the country.

According to him, in the initial phase of these protests, violent groups were seen attacking police officers, opening fire with various pyrotechnics, throwing stones and damaging the parliament building.

“It is our duty as legislators to respond in a timely manner to the challenges that society faces. Especially when these challenges concern public safety.

In the initial phase of these protests, we saw violent groups attacking police officers, opening fire with various pyrotechnics, throwing stones, and damaging the parliament building. We, the Georgian people, watched all of this live on television. We all saw the famous footage in which one of the perpetrators virtually opened artillery fire on the police. The entire Georgian nation suffered this.

At the same time, we saw the statements of some foreigners who were watching all this, then looked us in the eye and said: “This was peaceful, isn’t throwing stones peace? It not this the height of peace when you throw “firecrackers” at a police officer? 150 police officers were injured by stones, burns, etc. They said this was the peace that everyone desired. They looked us in the eye so shamelessly and called mass violence peaceful. Of course, this incited these aggressors even more: we could see that on the first day, if there was some level of violence, the next day there were statements by some ambassadors and European politicians about how white, fluffy and peaceful the stone-throwing was. On the second day, this group of aggressors got even more incited and we saw more violence.

After that, we also saw assessments that "This is peace, didn't you see the poppies and daisies they threw? These were not stones or pyrotechnics". They incited these aggressors even more," Papuashvili said.

Speaking about the legislative amendments adopted around the same topic, Papuashvili explained that they primarily serve the safety of the population and the participants of the demonstration themselves.

"People are shocked when they look at ambassadors, European politicians who look us in the eye, lie to us and tell us that black is white. This hypocrisy that we have seen is shocking to our people.

It is this incitement that has led to even more aggression and violence from violent groups. Of course, this needs to be put into an appropriate legal framework, which is fully consistent with the European framework and standards that operate in other countries - be it the issue of pyrotechnics, the ban on camouflage or something else.

So, first of all, this serves the safety of our population, the safety of the protest participants themselves. We have seen that the protest participants themselves were injured by the use of pyrotechnics or other equipment," Papuashvili said.