Arguments about rude behavior did not justify the violence against the Russian-speaking tourist in Telavi.

Claims that Russian-speaking female tourists allegedly insulted wedding participants in Telavi and splashed water on the equipment do not justify the violence against one of them, social media users pointed out.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the beating of Russian-speaking tourist by a resident of Georgia, Giorgi Chigladze, caused a stir on social media. Georgian police stated that Chigladze attacked the tourist due to an insult directed at the wedding participants. The victim's friend claims that the conflict arose because of the Russian language. A march took place in Tbilisi, where participants expressed support for Chigladze.

Social media users debated the reasons for the conflict

On the "Caucasian Knot" Facebook page, two posts and one video about the beating of the Russian-speaking tourist in Georgia were published. Both posts had garnered over 463 thousand views and more than 5.5 thousand comments by 16:00 MSK on July 21. The video received over 152 thousand views and 2.5 thousand comments.

Users debated whether the conflict was related to the Russian language or was a result of the tourists' behavior.

"What does the Russian language have to do with it? The guy says that the girls ruined his brother's wedding. Stop provoking and turning people against each other," commented Michel Gabrielli.

"No one would have approached and hit them just because they were speaking Russian. Most likely, they ruined the wedding, and such things are not forgiven," believes Tamry KO.

"There are many tourists in the country, and no one hits anyone. So the ladies provoked the conflict," thinks Nino Dolidze.

Other commentators pointed out that a violation of public order does not justify violence. "If a citizen violated public order – call the police," wrote Polina Viktorovna Zherebtsova.

"No matter how the girls behaved, is hitting a woman in the face manly?" questioned Yuliya Pa-va.

"In any case, hitting a woman in the face like that is an unworthy act," noted John Bigelow.

Some users called on tourists to respect the laws, traditions, and social norms of the country they are visiting.

"First, learn to respect the traditions of the country you are in. If you are in a foreign country, behave culturally, respect its laws, traditions, and social norms," stated Hrach Grigoryan.

"A tourist should behave appropriately," noted in a comment by Zeinab Beradze.

Some users pointed out that the conflict and its wide discussion could negatively affect Georgia's tourist appeal.

"I am from Germany and wanted to visit Georgia, but I think it's not worth it. They don't speak German there, and it's unsafe to speak Russian," wrote Alexander Alexandrovich.

"This is a minus for the country, a big minus for the hotel, draw your conclusions," pointed out Galina Talikina.

"What is the benefit? A blow to tourism, political problems," noted a user Azer Hunbetli.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the tourist presented different versions of the conflict

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia previously reported, citing witnesses, that during a wedding at one of the hotels in Telavi, tourists staying at the hotel insulted those at the wedding from their hotel room balcony and splashed water on the equipment from which music was playing. Subsequently, a resident of Georgia, Giorgi Chigladze, struck one of the tourists. She was taken to a clinic, and Chigladze was detained.

A girl named Polina, who was in the hotel room at the time of the attack, provided a different version. According to her, she was with friends in the hotel room, and a man from another room heard the girls speaking Russian on the balcony. He found out at the reception the room number where Polina and her friends were staying. Her friend Yulia opened the door, and after a brief verbal quarrel, the unknown man hit her in the face.

It is worth noting that this is already the second conflict between residents of Georgia and tourists in the last 10 days. On July 11, in Tbilisi, participants in a memorial event for soldiers killed in combat in Ukraine held a march near the parliament building. A conflict occurred between the march participants and a group of tourists. Georgian media reported that the tourists were from Russia.

The incident caused a stir on social media. Commentators debated its causes. Some users believed that the tourists only responded to the aggression of the demonstrators, while others claimed that it was their behavior that caused the incident.