E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1 page 14 religious literature and forcefully occupied both the church and the entrance of the church. The leader of hooligans was threatening and insulting verbally all the people who had come to the Cathedral church and prevented them to enter the sanctuary in order to hold the service there [...]. Even though the police had been informed about the service a few days earlier by the organizers of the ecumenical prayer service, they showed up at the spot with [some] delay [...]. 1. Those responsible for violence and intolerance 63. In a number of cases, according to some sources, the local police have committed either acts of physical violence or acts amounting to other violations of the freedom of religion or belief, such as confiscating religious literature or preventing people from joining a religious demonstration. Nonetheless, violence and other displays of religious intolerance are more normally the work of groups not in the employ of the State but belonging - or close - to the Georgian Orthodox Church, in a great many cases Basil Mkalavishvili and his sympathizers who are a well-organized gang and operate in concert. 64. Even if the Georgian authorities do not often seem to be directly involved in acts of intolerance or religious violence, the Special Rapporteur was told that in many cases the authorities have refrained from intervening and have not taken the necessary steps to prosecute those responsible for violence. Impunity is therefore real and uncontested, even by the authorities. 2. The origins of violence and intolerance 65. The origins of such religious intolerance and violence are not easy to identify. Apart from explanations citing a combination of economic reasons, politics and even the involvement of a foreign Power, the situation appears to be at least partly linked to recent Georgian history, in particular, the fact that Georgians were driven towards atheism over 80 years of Soviet rule and the means of repression used against the Orthodox clergy during that period. 66. According to certain informants, Georgia has also often been attacked by neighbouring countries and the continual threat hanging over the country has made defending the fatherland and the associated religion a civic duty. National sentiment in Georgia seems to go hand in hand with orthodoxy, and an excess of the one often gives rise to an excess of the other. 67. More specifically, the appearance of “new” religious movements since the collapse of the Soviet Union is often regarded as a foreign threat to the Orthodox Church and, hence, the nation. Some politicians have taken advantage of such fears, stirring up hatred of religious minorities (see below). 68. Besides this, deep ignorance of any religion other than Orthodox has been nurtured by intolerant, nationalistic speeches by politicians and Orthodox extremists.