Protesters Burn Rainbow Flag After Soccer Player Wore Rainbow Armband

All it took was a small show of LGBTQ solidarity to set off a hateful Georgian mob. As a result of soccer player Guram Kashia wearing a rainbow armband last month for National Coming Out Day, protesters gathered outside the Georgian Football Federation headquarters yesterday.

According to Associated Press, amid the chants of anti-gay slogans and flares and smoke bombs going off, protesters also burnt a rainbow flag.

"It was not clear how many of those arrested were members of Georgia March, an anti-immigrant and anti-gay rights group which claims to be protecting the 'purity' of society in the Caucasus nation," AP reports.

Kashia, who plays for a Dutch football club and Georgia's national team, spoke out against violence in a Dutch interview. "I always support human beings' freedom," he said. "And I'm always against violence." The irony when protesters violently protest someone who is non-violent is not lost on us. Watch Kashia's interview, below.

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