Government of Georgia Georgian Orthodox Church Giorgi Tabagari, Ana Subeliani, Zurab Japaridze and others Irakli Garibashvili, Vakhtang Gomelauri and others.

[10] Anti-LGBT protesters frustrated attempts to hold a parade, attacked dozens of journalists who were covering the events and NGO offices,[3][1] which resulted in the canceling of the Pride demonstration after four location changes from the initial procession at Rustaveli Avenue.

[12] Shame Movement, which was founded in consequence of the 2019 Gavrilov protests by opposition activists to demand resignation of the Georgian Dream government, and other political organizations announced that they will join the Pride Week.

[10] On 15 June conservative political figure Levan Vasadze, who recently has founded the public movement ERI, urged government to cancel the Pride events to "prevent destabilisation".

[13] On 17 June the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze said that "considering the current situation in the country and the context", holding the Pride events is "unreasonable".

[14][15] On 24 June up to 30 conservative and Christian groups at the Hotel Gino Wellness in Mtskheta held briefing, where they announced that "the agreement was signed between national forces to mobilize against the Pride march and block the Rustaveli Avenue".

Since its the sovereign decision of Georgian people to choose what kind of cultural politics they will pursue, he urged the government to follow the will of the absolute majority of population instead of enforcing "foreign directives like the foreign-imposed colonial administration".

[16] On June 28, in an open letter, 28 members of the European Parliament called upon Vakhtang Gomelauri, the Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA) to protect the Pride parade with the police force if necessary.

[18] A day later Tbilisi Mayor and one of the leaders of the Georgian Dream Kakhi Kaladze has told the reporters that he considers holding the Pride Week inappropriate in general because "specific groups can misuse the situation on both sides", although "freedom of expression is protected in this country".

According to statement, activities of the Tbilisi Pride discredit Western values in Georgia, and it is necessary to confirm that European democracy doesn't goes against the way of life and the religious feelings of the majority of the population.

[25] On 3 July Patriarchate of Georgia has stated that "for our Church and our citizens, the blatant intervention of some embassies and members of the European Parliament into our social and spiritual life is disturbing and unacceptable.

We think that this is beyond their competency", calling Christians to "hold a prayer service to the Most Holy Virgin" on July 5, a March for Dignity day, and avoid "deliberate provocations" in order that "peaceful protest of people is not transformed into violent confrontation".

The chairman of the party Davit Tarkhan Mouravi claimed that "pseudoliberal organizations of the USA and EU" like USAID, the Biden administration, and the U.S. Department of State along with the Georgian Dream government, United National Movement and European Georgia are "subverting the Church".

The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili repeatedly urged the LGBT rights activists to abstain from holding the March for Dignity, claiming it would lead to disorder.

On the other hand, the MIA issued an official statement, saying that they regarded holding the March in a public space as too risky and asked them to refrain from it, or cancel the event altogether.

[49] Embassies of Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, the European Union Monitoring Mission, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, UN representation in Georgia, the United States and the EU Delegation in Georgia have expressed their support for Tbilisi Pride and media representatives.

[51] Moreover, some have further developed a theory that the events on July 5 were part of "Georgian Dream's anti-media crusade", suggesting that the violence at the counter-protests was pre-planned by the ruling party to "scare" the "free media".

[54][55] Russian perennial traditionalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, who was known for being a frequent guest of Alt-Info, commented on the ongoing events: "Georgians by their heroic action are changing the world balance - touching the scale of our side".

[63] After the passing away of Lekso Lashkarava, a new protest was announced on 11 July, demanding that the Prime Minister Garibashvili and his government take responsibility for the events and resign.

[79] On 12 July at the briefing held by the Ministry of Internal Affairs director of the Central Criminal Police Department Mamuka Chelidze stated that the chemical examination has found various drugs in the body of Lashkarava, including morphine, codeine, tetrahydrocannabinol, pentin and monoacetylmorphine.

[84] On 11 July, commentators on the conservative media platform Alt-Info claimed that the death of Lekso Lashkarava might have been pre-planned by liberal groups to use him as a "sacred victim" and further anti-government riots and colour revolution.

[86][87][88] Nika Gvaramia, director of the Mtavari Arkhi suggested that the report could not be trusted because the government is supposedly trying to shift the blame from the groups involved in the violence against the journalists on 5 July.