Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili declined allegations about increased police violence - referring to them as "groundless" - and said that the Interior Ministry is staffed with professionals.

“If someone is irritated at the fact that the police are working, I will calm them down and say that the police will never lose their morals and the citizens of Georgia and Tbilisi will be protected by all means. I am happy that not a single police operation in Georgia has resulted in the death or injury of innocent people. This confirms the high professionalism of the Interior Ministry’s employees,” the Interior Minister told reporters on May 8.

“The dreams of Georgian thieves-in-law [criminal bosses] to return to the period when people were killed, kidnapped, and robbed in broad daylight is now a thing of the past. And the fact that our foreign counterparts - especially in Austria, Spain and Russia - are bothered by Georgian ‘thieves’ confirms that we have seriously hit a very serious 'Mafioso' group here in Georgia,” Merabishvili added.