On July 8, 2019, DRI representatives observed the demonstration organised by the members of the ultranationalist far-right movement and Orthodox clergymen in front of the parliament building.

The reasons for protests were, on the one hand, mentioning the president of Russian Federation inappropriately by the journalist of Rustavi 2 - Giorgi Gabunia (link), on the other hand, the announcement of ,,March of Dignity'' by Tbilisi Pride organizers. The rally was preceded by Levan Vasadze’s statement made on July 7 by which he called upon his supporters not allow Tbilisi Pride to happen. On his statement - "If there is a police cordon, our aim is to break it through and force the depravity propagandists to leave the place" - the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia didn’t have any response.

July 8 events have developed in the following sequence: leaders of the ultranationalist groups - Guram and Alexandre Falavandishvili, Levan Chachua, Dmitri Lortkiphanidze, and Levan Vasadze announced mobilization of supporters against “March of Dignity”. On July 8, 2019, at 9 a.m., some 20 people gathered in front of the Tbilisi Patrol Police Building HQ, demanding not to allow announced ,,March of Dignity'' to take place.

After the announcement that Tbilisi Pride organizers refrained from commencing the ,,March of Dignity,'' the leaders of ultranationalist far-right groups joined their supporters gathering at ,,Vera Garden''. Additionally, the clergymen were actively mobilizing their parish. The main consolidation of the far-right groups occurred around Levan Vasadze, the businessman and the representative of the World Congress of Families. He announced the main requests of the gathered people, which remained unchanged during the demonstration – abolishment of the Law of Georgia ,,On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination'' and prohibition of ,,depravity propaganda'' by law. After the statement, the groups gathered in ,,Vera Garden'' moved near the parliament building.

During the demonstration, it became clear that one of the participants’ goals was to obstruct the assembly of the anti-occupation demonstrators, who were gathering on the same location for the whole week.

During the demonstration, businessman Levan Vasadze, Dimitri Lortkipanidze, Sandro Bregadze and clergyman Davit Isakadze, were the most active in their statements.  The pro-Russian and anti-Western narrative was noticeable in the current discourse. For instance, Dimitri Lortkiphanidze asked the UK Parliament not to interfere in the internal affairs of Georgia and focus on the issue of the Brexit instead. According to archpriest Davit Isakadze, “We should not let the homosexual person to be chosen as the president or the PM of Georgia” and for that reason, the Law of Georgia ,,On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination'' should be abolished and any “gay event” should be prohibited. He also called upon ,,spiritually doomed'' the US and the UK governments to refrain from interfering in internal affairs of Georgia. After the Georgian March joined the demonstration, protestors burned the LGBT flag.

On the background of sharp anti-western messages, the participants' attitude towards the occupation of Georgian territories by the Russian Federation was revealed. Levan Vasadze stated that he intends to persuade Russia by the means of dialogue to return the lost territories. The clergymen at the rally repeatedly pointed out that if the main thing- the moral and national values are maintained, the territories will be returned by the help of the Lord. Demonstrators used different types of posters, some of which contained hate speech, while others called for the protection of religion and traditional institutions.

The absolute majority of the demonstrators and speakers were male. In one case, the female speaker was not allowed to continue her speech as her opinion was not acceptable for the part of the demonstrators. Demonstrators used homophobic and hate speech rhetoric. They threw bottles to the organizer of the anti-occupation demonstration - Mikheil Mshvildadze and abused him verbally.    

The situation became especially intense at 7 p.m., when supporters of the anti-occupation demonstration arrived in front of the parliament building. The law enforcement representatives were   mobilized to separate the two parallel demonstration participants.

Despite the various incidents and controversies, at the end of the day, the anti-occupation demonstration representatives managed to hold and finish their demonstration peacefully.