On December 10, TV channel Imedi published a video claiming that a confrontation took place among the protest participants.
The video was also shared by online media outlets Reporter and Mkhare • mkhare.ge, as well as the Facebook page Guria Times, which presents itself as a regional media outlet.
The video disseminated by Imedi, which claims that a confrontation occurred among the protest participants, is manipulative and presented out of context. Another video depicting the incident shows that the confrontation took place between the protest participants and Russian-speaking individuals, whose behavior was deemed inappropriate for the nature of the protest by the participants.
The video published by Imedi on December 10 at 01:22 had already been spread on the Telegram channel “Georgia – VOL 2.0” at 01:12. The Telegram channel shared two videos: one 30 seconds long, later published by Imedi, and another 1 minute and 11 seconds long.
Both videos published on the Telegram channel depict the confrontation that took place on Rustaveli Avenue. In the 30-second video, a verbal altercation can be seen between several protest participants and an individual wearing a white, painted T-shirt.
In the 1-minute and 11-second video, it is visible that several protest participants approach the same individual.
At the same time, three individuals, who appear to be accompanying the person in the white T-shirt, also approach him.
The video captures fragments of the conversation between the person in the white T-shirt and the protest participants. One protester remarks that the behavior of the person in the white T-shirt does not strike a chord with other participants of the protest. Protesters ask the young man in the white T-shirt and his companions to say, “F*ck Russia.” The individual in the white T-shirt tells one protester in English that “He is Georgia’s new president,” and soon after states in Russian that he is not protesting but dancing – “Я не протестую, я танцую” (“I’m not protesting, I’m dancing”). To this, one protester responds in English, saying this is not the right time for that, while another asks him in Russian if he understands what is happening in general, adding that the protesters are “not in the mood for dancing.” The individual in the white T-shirt then asks, “Why? Why not dance? […] Why are you guys stressing out at all? Everything is f*cking great.” (Почему? Почему не до танца? […] Почему вы напрягаетесь вообще, ребята, все за*бись”). The companions of the person in the white T-shirt are also seen dancing occasionally, and music can be heard at the beginning of the video.
Due to multiple people speaking simultaneously, it is occasionally difficult to discern words in the video. Toward the end of the video, one protest participant reiterates to the person in the white T-shirt that this is neither the right place nor time to speak Russian in Georgia. In response, the individual in the white T-shirt states in English that it is not a problem if they do not like him and that he and his companions can leave. He also mentions that he has been living in Georgia for two years.
As evident from the 1-minute and 11-second video, the protesters found the behavior of Russian-speaking individuals inappropriate for the protest—presumably dancing, which led to a verbal altercation. This fact is also confirmed by an eyewitness to the incident, Mariam Silagadze, who was contacted by Myth Detector. Mariam Silagadze said that she and her friend filmed the videos and directly supplied them to the Telegram channel “Georgia – VOL 2.0,” not to the TV company Imedi. According to Silagadze, they were leaving the protest when the group featured in the video appeared. They had loud Russian music and songs playing, were dancing, and inviting the protesters. This led to a verbal argument, which prompted the protesters to approach them and express that such behavior was inappropriate at a protest.
It should be noted that the video shared by the TV channel Imedi was the one originally published on the Telegram channel “Georgia – VOL 2.0,” as the watermark used by the channel is visible in the footage.
Watermark on the video published by “Georgia – VOL 2.0” | Watermark on the video published by “Imedi” | Watermark on other video published by “Georgia – VOL 2.0” |
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What do we know about the young man in the white T-shirt featured in the video?
After the videos of the altercation were shared, a post was quickly published on the Telegram channel “Georgia – VOL 2.0,” stating that the young man in the white T-shirt is Ilya Mitkevich-Daletski (Instagram: giga_chel). Upon verifying this Instagram account, it appears that Ilya Mitkevich-Daletski visually resembles the individual in the video. Additionally, Ilya Mitkevich-Daletski has a tattoo on his neck reading “Чел.” The person in the white T-shirt in the video also has a tattoo in the same area, with the first letter “Ч” visible and the remaining shapes of the symbols resembling “Чел.”
Ilya Mitkevich-Daletski has another tattoo on his arm, which is also visible in the shared video.
In the video, he also says that “he is Georgia’s new president.” A similar statement is also featured in the description of his Instagram account.
From the Instagram posts of Ilya Mitkevich-Daletski, it is evident that he attends protest rallies, likely using them to promote himself and his content.
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