Georgian State Security Service: no banned substances used for crowd control during 2024 protest rallies

The Georgian State Security Service on Saturday announced that an investigation has confirmed that during the overnight events of December 4-5, 2024, authorities used the chemical agent chlorobenzylidene malononitrile for crowd control, dissolved in a propylene glycol solution

Lasha Maghradze, First Deputy Head of the State Security Service, noted that neither of these substances falls under the category of prohibited materials.

“Investigation has determined that during the events of early December 2024, specifically the night of December 4-5, the crowd-control substance used was chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, with propylene glycol serving as the solvent. Neither of these substances is classified as prohibited”, the official said.

The Georgian State Security Service also released findings from a chemical examination of substances seized from the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In particular, the investigators identified - chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, the chemical substance trichloroethylene - detected as a written-off residue amounting to approximately 880 liters, and the chemical substance propylene glycol.

Officials emphasised that all identified materials fall within legal parameters and do not appear on any banned-substance lists.