Special State Protection Service Responds to the Minister of Interior

On February 11, press-center of the Special State Protection Service responded to the statement of the Minister of Interior:

“Special State Protection Service feels responsibility to respond to the statement of the Minister of Interior. Permanent action plan to ensure the president’s protection was approved by the Ministries of Interior and Defense, Intelligence and Special State Service in April of 2012.

In accordance to this action plan, units of the MIA are authorized to obtain operative information about possible threats against people they protect and timely update the SSPS with the relevant information, to assist them in ensuring the safety and protection of public order in the surrounding territory.

It is noteworthy that Law on Special State Protection Service does not oblige the SSPS to protect public order.

On February 8, in accordance to the permanent action plan, SSPS called heads of relevant subunits of police department to the place of incident. At 3:00 pm they gathered at the venue and received concrete instructions. At about 4:00 pm groups of protesters from Kutaisi joined demonstrators, who were already gathered near the National Library. By 3:00 pm Tbilisi City Hall blocked Purtseladze-Gudiashvili and Jorjadze-Gudiashvili streets with iron barriers. According to the action plan, the police officers had to free those streets from cars and demonstrators but the police officers failed to do it.

It is also noteworthy that demonstrators always tried to enter the building territory where representatives of diplomatic corps had already gathered. The SSPS officers had hampered them to break into the building.

Governmental representatives and invited guests could not use alternative entrance for the following reasons: 1. alternative entrance from Gudiashvili Street was only 20-30 meters away from the central entrance and it was within the site of the demonstrators; 2. it was impossible to use the service entrance of the library via Italian yard from Purtseladze Street because of high number of demonstrators gathered in this yard.

Based on all aforementioned circumstances, we would like to underline again that the Law on Special State Protection Service does not envisage protection of public order. SSPS protects senior governmental officials from physical violence,” the statement reads.

IPN