4 Arrested in Attack on Georgia Gay Rights Demonstration

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/europe/4-held-in-attack-on-georgia-gay-rights-advocates.html

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MOSCOW — Georgian police have arrested four men who took part in a mob attack on a gay rights demonstration in Tbilisi that injured dozens, the Georgian Interior ministry announced Tuesday.

The police said the men, the first to be arrested in the violence on Friday, face up to 90 days in prison for hooliganism and disobeying police orders.

The powerful Georgian Orthodox Church helped to organize the rally and video showed several priests participating in the street fighting.

Georgia’s prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has called for prosecutions following the violence, but the case is expected to upset his relations with the church.

Ilia II, the Georgian Orthodox patriarch, distanced the church from attacks on gay rights demonstrators in a statement on Friday.

Police released names and video of the arrested men, who were brought to a Tbilisi police station in street clothing; none was identified as a member of the clergy.