Georgian Police Beat Disabled Demonstrators on International Disability Day
By Koba Nadiradze, Executive Director (nadira@disability.ge, nadira@gol.ge) and Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living (www.disability.ge/en/). The following is the Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living’s statement of what happened on the International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3).
As it is known worldwide, December 3 is the International Day of Disabled Persons. The Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living, which unites motivated NGOs founded by the people with disabilities and their family members, decided to celebrate this day with a demonstration at the State Chancellery of Georgia. Representatives from the various NGOs including the Blind Association, different NGOs working on issues of disabled veterans, children and adults with different kinds of disabilities, their family members and parents took part in the demonstration.
The main purpose of the demonstration was to arrange a dialogue with the Prime Minister to discuss the numerous barriers facing disabled Georgians including an inaccessible physical environment, inaccessible public buildings and public transport, inaccessible media and communications technology for the members of the Deaf and Blind Associations, as well as barriers to an education, employment problems, and so on.
It is impossible to solve the above listed and many other problems without developing a strategy, and the government must clarify and improve the State policy for people with disabilities and include people with disabilities in developing such policy.
The demonstration was peaceful, and the only demand made by the demonstrators was to have a dialogue with the government.
In spite of the fact that the people who took part in the demonstration were standing from 12 noon and waiting for some decision from the State Chancellery, there was no answer. In spite of the cold weather, demonstrators decided not to go home before the meeting was arranged. In the evening, when it was dark and even colder, they made a fire and pitched a tent. The demonstration was peaceful and the members of the Blind Association were singing.
What happened next seemed incomprehensible. The police came, dispersed the demonstration, destroyed the tent, extinguished the fire and beat the members of Deaf and Blind Associations.
The Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living is protesting this indignity and is asking for the support from media and society to obtain an apology from the person who ordered the dispersion of the demonstration.
On the following day, the Prime Minister met a representative from the Coalition, and they granted the meeting with the Prime Minister requested by the representatives of the Coalition which was held from December 13 -18, 2005. The results of the meeting will be made public.
In addition, on December 7, 2004 the office of the Ombudsman of Georgia in cooperation with the Eurasia Fund held a round table. Georgian disability NGOs and other NGOs whose work somehow addresses disability issues took part in the round table.
At the beginning of the round table, participants acknowledged the negative message sent by the government by dispersing the peaceful demonstration at the State Chancellery of Georgia on the International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3). Participants asked the Ombudsman and the government for their rapid response to these actions.
The Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living thinks that it is necessary to coordinate communications regarding this issue. This was supported by all representatives of the participating NGOs and the Ombudsman of Georgia.
Ombudsman of Georgia and a representative of the Eurasia Fund offered organizational and financial support to the round table participants and that the communication coordination problem will be introduced to the government.
Participants of the round table agreed that the next meeting would be held on December 21, 2004, where NGOs will introduce their views on the issues being addressed.
Press conference
On December 7, 2004, the Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living held a press conference addressing the dispersion of the peaceful demonstration at the State Chancellery of Georgia by the police on the International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3). The story was covered by the press and spread by electronic media. The mass media covered and acknowledged the negative impact and message sent by the actions of the police - dispersion of the peaceful demonstration at the State Chancellery of Georgia - and supported all of the issues raised by the Georgian NGO Coalition for Independent Living.
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