‘Either we fight or end up as the next Belarus’ As Georgia enters its second week of protests, police violence adds fuel to calls for new elections

The protests sweeping Georgia have now entered their second week. Sparked on November 28, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would halt E.U. accession talks “until the end of 2028,” the anti-government demonstrations have since spread to cities, towns, and even villages across the country. Protesters are now demanding a rerun of the October 26 parliamentary elections, which saw the ruling Georgian Dream party claim victory amid allegations of vote rigging. The government response has been equal parts brutal and absurd. Police forces have used truncheons, tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, severely injuring dozens of protesters and carrying out hundreds of arrests. Georgian Dream officials, meanwhile, have rejected calls for new elections and attempted to blame the European Union for putting integration on hold. For a firsthand perspective on the first week of protests in Tbilisi, The Beet editor Eilish Hart spoke to Georgian journalist Anna Gvarishvili, head of the Investigative Media Lab at the University of Georgia. 

This interview has been lightly edited and abridged for length and clarity.

Protests aren’t unusual in Georgia and you have a lot of experience covering them. Do these protests feel different to you? 

Yes, they absolutely feel different to me. I’ve honestly never seen anything even close to this. I’ve never seen Georgians be so stubborn in their fight because we’ve always wanted to protest peacefully; to sing and dance, and have speeches [delivered] from stages. All that is gone now. There’s only anger. And I’ve never seen the kind of anger among Georgians that I’m seeing now. 

This is also the first time [I’ve seen countrywide protests] on this scale. Usually, there were protests outside of Tbilisi, but [only] in big cities. Now, it’s in almost every little town and village, and that’s something we’ve never seen before. In my hometown, Batumi, people don’t really like protesting. There’s a [running] joke that we never go out to protest. Now, I’m seeing such massive protests in Batumi that I’m shocked. I think the regime should really be afraid of that. 

What about the police response? In Tbilisi, it’s been quite violent and they’re using a lot of different methods to disperse and arrest protesters.

Watchdog lawyers who have been [working] closely with protesters who were arrested and beaten up say openly and directly that punishing, beating, and torturing [protesters] was the order from the Internal Affairs Ministry. So it’s not just one or two police officers acting brutally on their own — it’s the regime’s modus operandi. I think the goal is to intimidate and frighten people with [force]. But we’re seeing more and more Georgians take to the streets because they’re getting angry, not frightened by it. 

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There’s been inhumane treatment of those who were arrested. Almost everyone who got arrested was brutally and violently beaten. It’s like a series of torture. First, they’re beaten up at the scene of the arrest (as seen in videos and media recordings), then again in the [police vans]. One protester even said that police used pepper spray inside the car and then closed the door while there were people inside who had already been beaten up and arrested. [Many] of the people who were arrested have been hospitalized and [some] of them have fractures to their faces and ribs. So I think that itself speaks to systematic violence against the Georgian people. 

There’s one famous Georgian poet, Zviad Ratiani, who was beaten terribly and needed an operation, but he was sentenced to eight days in prison. And there are also ongoing court cases against [protesters] so they might end up in jail [for years]. But usually [detainees are held] for at least 48 hours at the stations — unless they’re beaten [half to] death, like in the case of 22-year-old Aleksi Tirkia, who was beaten up and is now in a medically induced coma. 

You said the police violence isn’t deterring protesters. Do you think it’s galvanizing more support for the protests? 

Yes, absolutely. Georgians are always like that. Whenever we see dispersals — like during last year’s protests — or disproportionate [force] from the police, we see more people in the streets. It’s been six days now and the protests are only getting larger and larger, and broader in terms of covering the whole country. 

Aside from the street protests, people are organizing in other ways, like students walking out of schools and Georgian ambassadors resigning. But it seems like all of these forms of protest are spontaneous and self-organized. What are the popular demands from protesters? 

The protesters only have one demand: new elections under international [supervision]. The Central Election Commission shouldn’t administer or monitor the new elections. That’s the only thing the people will allow the opposition to talk and negotiate about with Georgian Dream, because the Georgian people have had enough. At this point, they’re fed up and they all understand that there’s no point in negotiating with a Russian puppet regime. The only way [forward] is to declare new elections that will be administered by an international group. 

In his response to the protests, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze seems to mainly address the backlash against the decision to halt Georgia’s E.U. accession bid. What has Georgian Dream said about the protesters’ demand for new elections? 

[Georgian Dream is] mainly focusing on the E.U. and trying to ignore the demand for new elections. They won’t admit that [their government is] illegitimate and unconstitutional. 

Editor’s note: On December 3, Georgia’s Constitutional Court rejected a lawsuit by President Salome Zourabichili and former opposition lawmakers challenging the constitutionality of the October 26 parliamentary elections. In response to the ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, Zourabichivili accused the court of “passing a verdict on both the country and itself" and called the presidency the only remaining “constitutional, legitimate institution” in Georgia. 

Kobakhidze is mostly focusing on the E.U. accession part and trying to blur the lines. For example, he claims that [the government] hasn’t halted or suspended negotiations with the European Union when, in fact, the whole country heard him [announce] that they did. That’s why the whole country is in the streets right now. 

After the parliamentary elections in October, I saw a lot of criticism of the political opposition for failing to organize and seize the moment. Are they getting involved in the protests now? 

No, and right now, as we’re speaking, I’m seeing the news that police forces are raiding their offices. 

The protests are totally self-organized and spontaneous, and political parties aren’t involved in [leading them]. That’s good, on the one hand, but it’s also bad because the anger needs a political process going on in parallel and we’re not seeing that. President Zourabichvili is trying her best to be a unifying leader for the opposition parties. But it seems like it’s always Zourabichvili trying her best and we don’t see coordinated [actions] from opposition parties yet, unfortunately.

You’re probably getting a lot of questions from international journalists about the protests. Is there some angle that you feel like people abroad are missing?

I don’t like when people get too optimistic about the protests on social networks. Everything could be reversed at any moment, and then there will be the complete consolidation of an authoritarian regime. We need to stay cautious, so we’re not delusional about [what’s happening]. People should stop making comparisons and calling the protests a “new Maidan.” It’s not [realistic] at this point. 

Do you feel like the protesters are still optimistic at this point?

Yes, absolutely. It’s not [just] about optimism — it’s a peak of defiance. They understand that there’s nothing to lose anymore. This is the final battle, so either we fight or end up as the next Belarus. So yeah, we don’t really have any other option but to be optimistic.