Patriarch Ilia II, who had released a statement on 16 May calling on authorities to cancel the rally, criticized the gay rights movement and said homosexuality was a sin and "should not be propagandized". However, after the events of 17 May, the patriarch sought to distance himself and the GOC from the violence, said that priests opposing the demonstration had behaved "impolitely", and appealed for calm. The chairman of the Georgian parliament, Davit Usupashvili, suggested that Ilia II's call for authorities to ban the rally had served as encouragement to the counter-demonstrators.