Georgia demands BBC apology over report on "camite" use in 2024 protests

Georgia has lodged a complaint with the BBC over a report alleging that the authorities used chemical agents against protesters in late 2024.

The complaint calls for the removal of the film and related materials from the relevant platforms, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

The Georgian authorities demand a public and unequivocal apology from the BBC for making assumptions and claims without factual grounds that Georgian law enforcement agencies used “Camite.”

In addition, the Georgian side is seeking an apology for the dissemination of unsubstantiated information alleging that the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party was involved in decisions to disperse violent gatherings.

On December 1, 2025, the BBC World Service Eye investigation unit published a detailed report and documentary alleging that Georgian law-enforcement officials used a World War I-era chemical agent known as camite (bromobenzyl cyanide) to suppress anti-government protests in late 2024. The investigation was titled along the lines of “WWI toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests.” It posited that the agent may have been mixed into the water of police water cannons used against demonstrators in Tbilisi.

According to the BBC’s reporting, its findings were based on interviews with chemical weapons experts, riot-police insiders, medical professionals, and protesters who described symptoms—including burning sensations and prolonged respiratory effects—that they said were consistent with exposure to camite.

The report suggested that documentation linked certain UN hazardous-material codes (UN3439 and UN1710) to chemicals in police inventories and that one riot-police insider said the compound had been tested historically for riot-control use.

For the record, Camite was first developed and deployed by France against Germany during World War I. There is little documentation of its subsequent use, but it is believed to have been taken out of circulation at some point in the 1930s, because of concerns about its long-lasting effects. 

By Khagan Isayev