Journalists attacked, injured in Georgian anti-LGBT protest

TBILISI, Georgia -- A protest against a planned LGBT march in the Georgian capital turned violent on Monday as demonstrators attacked and injured some 20 journalists covering the event.

Organizers of the Tbilisi March For Dignity that was to take place in the evening cancelled the event, saying authorities had not provided adequate security guarantees.

Opponents of the march blocked off the capital’s main avenue, denounced journalists covering the protest as pro-LGBT propagandists and threw sticks and bottles at the media workers. About 20 journalists were injured.

A man identified by some news reports as a journalist for an unspecified foreign news outlet was stabbed several blocks from the demonstration; one suspect was arrested.

Animosity against sexual minorities is strong in Georgia. The Tbilisi Pride group that tried to organize the march said in a statement Monday that march opponents were supported by the government and by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The Open Caucasus Media group published a photo of a man it said was a local TV journalist being pulled away from the demonstration in a headlock by an Orthodox priest.

President Salome Zurabishvili condemned the violence, but Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili alleged the march was organized by “radical opposition” forces led by exiled former Preisdent Mikheil Saakashvili.