The beating of a Russian-speaking tourist in Georgia has caused outrage among internet users.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the friend of the victim have different versions of the beating in the hotel in Telavi. The police claim that a man attacked her after insulting the wedding participants, while the victim's friend says that the conflict arose due to the Russian language. The attacker has been detained, the girl who was hit in the face has been hospitalized, and users on the network are expressing outrage on the hotel's Google Maps page.
The police stated the attack occurred after provocation from the tourists
The police of Kakheti have detained one person on charges of intentionally causing minor bodily harm. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the investigation, the case concerns an incident that occurred in one of the hotels in Telavi during a wedding, when foreign citizens from a hotel room balcony insulted the wedding participants and splashed water on the equipment, the agency's statement cites "Interpressnews".
The incident led to a physical confrontation, and the accused inflicted injuries on a woman - a foreign citizen.
"Employees of the Kakheti Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have detained one person on charges of intentionally causing minor bodily harm. According to witness testimonies, during a wedding in one of the hotels in Telavi, hotel guests who were foreign citizens insulted those at the wedding from the balcony of their hotel room and splashed water on the equipment, after which the accused inflicted physical injuries on a woman - a foreign citizen. The victim was taken to a clinic for appropriate medical assistance, and the attacker has been detained," the statement says.
The victim's version - conflict due to the Russian language
A girl named Polina, who was in the room at the time of the attack, provides a different version. She reported that she came to Tbilisi to meet friends. Together they went to the boutique hotel Agarani Estate in Kakheti, located two hours from the capital of Georgia. According to the girl, at some point, a man from another room heard the girls speaking Russian on the balcony. After that, he went to the reception, where he was informed of the room number where Polina and her friends were staying. The door was opened by her friend Yulia, who was severely hit in the face by the unknown man after a brief verbal quarrel, writes "Be careful, news".
In the video, the victim can be heard saying: "You are in my room," to which the man replies: "And you are in my country" — and says something about "brothers." After that, Yulia tries to push him out of the room and receives a strong blow to the face.
The author of the video reported that she was born in Ukraine but later moved to the Russian Federation. She has friends from both countries, with whom she decided to meet in Georgia.
TASS sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia asking whether the victim is a citizen of Russia, but did not receive a response.
Commenters have lowered the hotel's rating
The hotel administration issued a statement on its Facebook page regarding the incident, noting that it deeply regrets what happened and wishes all participants in the incident a speedy recovery.
According to the hotel, as soon as the staff noticed that the situation between the participants was starting to escalate, they immediately called the police — even before the conflict turned into a physical confrontation. An ambulance team was also called after the incident. Hotel staff provided necessary assistance to the participants and continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
An internal investigation was also conducted, which found that no staff member had passed on information about the room of the conflict participants to other guests; no hotel staff participated in the physical conflict, the statement says.
"A man hits a woman with his fist, and the commenters justify this by saying that she is Russian?" - commented Ola La.
At the same time, most comments are left in Georgian and justify the actions of the hotel administration, and the list of people who can leave comments on this post is limited.
Meanwhile, users expressed their opinions on the hotel's Google Maps page.
The hotel's rating on Google Maps dropped from 5 to 2.4 in just a few hours. In comments and reviews, there are hundreds of messages in which users complain about terrible service and lack of safety, writes Shot.
"The main feature of this hotel is the opportunity to fight with people from neighboring rooms," writes Alexey L.
"This hotel allowed a local to beat a tourist girl," writes Sergei.
"Negligent attitude towards the safety of guests," commented Alexander.