SSSG Report: June 20 Events Greatly Damaged the Country's Security Environment

The 2019 report prepared by the State Security Service of Georgia highlights that the notorious events of June 20 in Tbilisi have greatly damaged the security environment in the country.

The document further emphasizes that the development of such processes may be used by foreign states to intensify more acute, irreversible processes in the country.

"One of the most difficult challenges in 2019 was the events of June 20 in Tbilisi and its consequences. This has greatly damaged the country's security environment.

"Aggression, violence, disobedience to law enforcement, as well as actions aimed at creating an uncontrollable and chaotic situation and attempts of establishing these actions as an "acceptable norm" pose significant challenges to the statehood, constitutional order and governance. These actions, in addition to provoking a large-scale domestic political crisis, may be used by foreign states to intensify more acute, irreversible processes in the country,” the report said.

Protests on Rustaveli Avenue started on June 20 in reaction to the visit of three Russian MPs to Georgia within the framework of a session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held at the Parliament building, mostly due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair, speaking in Russian, which many Georgians saw as the unwelcome reminder of the Russian occupation of the country's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). 

The protest turned into clashes with police after protesters tried to enter the parliament building. 

The so-called Gavrilov Night protest was dispersed by riot police with the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. 240 individuals, including 32 journalists and 80 law enforcers, were injured during a clash on Rustaveli Avenue on June 20-21. 

By Ana Dumbadze