Protesters in Batumi demanded the deportation of a foreigner for animal cruelty.
Participants of the rally near one of the restaurants in Batumi demanded the deportation of the owner of the establishment, who was accused by social media users and animal rights activists of cruel treatment of stray dogs. The restaurant owner denied the accusations, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs began an investigation.
The restaurant owner denied the accusations
On August 30, a rally in defense of stray animals took place near the restaurant in Batumi. The gathered people chanted: "deport." Information circulated on social media that the restaurant owner is not a citizen of Georgia.
A video of the rally, filmed by its participants, was published on August 30 by the Telegram channel Tbilisi life.
Several dozen people participated in the rally, which took place at the entrance to the restaurant, the Telegram channel "My Batumi" clarified.
The reason for the rally was videos circulating on social media showing people throwing stones at stray dogs. Social media users and animal rights activists accused the restaurant owner of animal cruelty and possible involvement in the poisoning of dogs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia began an investigation under the article on animal cruelty, Batumelebi reported on August 27.
The restaurant owner confirmed to Batumelebi that she was captured in one of the circulated videos, but stated that the recording was made about four years ago and edited in such a way that it does not show what happened in full. She denied the accusations and reported that she herself contacted the police with a complaint about the spread of false information.
A series of incidents involving tourists occurred in Georgia
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that recently there have been several conflicts involving tourists in Georgia, which caused a wide resonance. At the same time, the topic of tourists and relocators from Russia has become a subject of political disputes.
Thus, on August 25, representatives of the opposition party "United National Movement" held a briefing at the border checkpoint "Upper Lars." The head of the temporary managing council of the party, Irakli Pavlenishvili, accused the ruling party "Georgian Dream" of creating conditions for the mass entry of Russian citizens, while another party representative stated that the authorities are interested in increasing the number of tourists and relocators from Russia. "Georgian Dream" denied these accusations, explaining the high flow of people across the border by the tourist season.
In July, a conflict with tourists in one of the hotels in Telavi during a wedding caused a wide resonance. A resident of Georgia, Georgy Chigladze, hit one of the girls, after which she was hospitalized, and Chigladze was detained. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, citing witnesses, stated that the tourists had previously insulted the wedding participants and splashed water on the sound equipment, while the friend of the injured initially linked the conflict to the fact that the girls were speaking Russian.
On July 11, a conflict occurred in Tbilisi between participants of a procession and a group of tourists. The procession in front of the parliament building was dedicated to the memory of Georgian fighters who died during military actions in Ukraine. Georgian media called the tourists Russians, although there was no confirmation of their citizenship in the published video recording. In the footage, the participants of the procession shouted insults at the tourists, one of the women showed them an obscene gesture, and the police did not allow the demonstrators to approach the tourist electric car.