On September 29, pro-government media outlet “Imedi TV” published a photo from a meeting of the “Strong Georgia” coalition held in Rustavi. The media reported that “no one attended Khazaradze’s party presentation, which led to the chairs being cleared.” The photo shows citizens seated in chairs in front of the stage, while in the background, a portion of the chairs is stacked on top of each other.
In reality, Imedi is disseminating a photomanipulation. Footage from the location shows that citizens were attending the meeting, and the chairs arranged in front of the stage were filled. The photo was taken from an angle where stacked extra chairs are visible in the foreground.
The photo published by Imedi was indeed taken at the Rustavi event organized by the members of the “Strong Georgia” coalition. Based on this image, Imedi claims that “no one attended Khazaradze’s party presentation,” resulting in the need to clear the chairs.
However, the image shared by the pro-government media is manipulative, as it shows additional chairs that were placed in the back. Different camera angles from the Rustavi event (1;2) reveal that citizens were present, and the chairs arranged in front of the stage were occupied.
The chairs seen in Imedi’s photo were also visible in the coalition’s live video during the event (at 1:15). The stacked chairs also appear in a video collage later shared by Mamuka Khazaradze. The footage reveals that behind the chairs occupied by the citizens, there were additional empty chairs.
“Myth Detector” contacted Saba Buadze, a member of the “Lelo” party who attended the Rustavi event. According to him, the chairs seen in the images for reserve.
“There were around 800 people at the event, maybe more. So, claiming that no one attended this event is simply a lie. At every event, there are always spare chairs in case more people show up,” says Saba Buadze.
Therefore, the photo published by Imedi leaves readers with a false impression that no one attended the coalition’s event, which led the organizers to clear the chairs. In reality, footage from the event confirms that the chairs in front of the stage were filled, and there were additional empty chairs that the pro-government media used for a manipulative claim.
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