Far-Right Georgian March Holds Rally in Batumi

Far-right, ultra-nationalist movement Georgian March held a protest rally in Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city of Batumi on August 12, marching in the streets with icons, Orthodox symbols and Georgian flags and voicing the slogans – “Georgia without Turks,” and “Georgia without Seljuks.”

Before starting the march, the leader of the movement, Sandro Bregadze, addressed his supporters in Rose Square, calling on the government to erect a statue of King David the Builder there, to replace the statues of Memed Abashidze, an eminent leader of the Muslim Georgian community of Adjarians, who was a major proponent of pro-Georgian orientation in Adjara, and Selim Khimshiashvili, who was a Muslim Georgian nobleman and derebey of Upper Adjara under the Ottoman suzerainty.

The protesters marched in the streets where Turkish cafes and restaurants are located, shouting xenophobic slogans and calling on the "non-Georgians" to leave Georgia.

The members of the Georgian March are against of Turkish investments in Batumi and say that the new planned mosque should not be built in Adjara. The group stated it will hold more rallies in the future.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: Batumelebi

Video source; IPN