Far-Right Group Rallies Against Eagle Hills, Launches Movement to ‘Protect Georgian Lands’

Crowds led by the far-right Conservative Movement/Alt-Info group rallied again on September 20 against the controversial UAE-based Eagle Hills investment and its planned large-scale development projects near Batumi and Tbilisi. The rally, billed by organizers as a “rally against Arab towns,” took place at Tbilisi’s Liberty Square, with participants filling a section of the square as organizers addressed them from the crowd to announce the creation of “National Unity for the Protection of Georgian Lands,” an initiative intended to bring together groups and individuals opposed to the Emirati investment.

“Starting tomorrow, we will begin active consultations and meetings with all political groups, scholars, demographers, public figures, lawyers and economists who hold sound national positions, so that through our joint efforts we can protect the vital interests of our state and our nation,” Giorgi Kardava, one of the group’s leaders, told the supporters, noting that the consultations on forming the new movement would begin immediately. He said the initiative would establish a “National Council for the Protection of Georgian Lands” to serve as its coordinating body. “This council will have a nonpartisan, supra-political character and objectives, because the protection of Georgian land and the safeguarding of the living space of the Georgian nation stand above everyone and everything else,” Kardava said. “Its doors will be open to everyone who agrees with the main, fundamental principle: Georgian land is not for sale. ” Kardava also said the group intended to “further expand the scale of the demonstrations” and pursue other political, informational and legal measures against the developments, including through lawsuits. “In the near future, lawsuits and applications prepared…