Even though the “Georgian Dream” faced final approval, protesters had the opportunity to show the “European face” of Tbilisi. Many hope that the measure will not be applied, to avoid sanctions from Washington and Brussels. Waiting for the October elections.
Tbilisi () – Young activists and students opposed to the law on the “transparency of foreign influences”, definitively approved by the Tbilisi parliament over the veto of President Salome Zurabišvili, have gathered around the palace since early morning in the morning to express their protest; but instead of the tones of civil war, there was an air of popular victory. The protesters had the opportunity to show the “European face” of Georgia, and made it clear to the pro-Russian ruling caste that they do not intend to surrender.
The deputies of the Georgian Dream, thugs of the Putinian oligarch Bidzina Ivanišvili, did not stop repeating that their task is to prevent the destabilization of the country and protect the sovereignty of Georgia, avoiding getting involved in the war against Russia. For their part, the young people who took to the streets shouted “We are Europe!”, demonstrating that they were not afraid of police repression, as promised by the head of the special services of the Ministry of the Interior, Zviad Kharazišvili, who declared on television that “We don’t hit young people, we hit almost men,” in reference to the non-traditional clothing of the young people who took to the streets, equated with “LGBT propagandists.” And just in case, he also promised to hit the leader of the opposition National Movement party, Levan Khabeišvili.
After these statements, Kharazišvili headed towards Parliament, and the leader of the Droa party, Elene Khoštarija, stood in front of his car shouting “Khareba, you are nothing more than a coward!” He went on to explain to reporters that “here we are not playing muscle-flexing, but rather we are talking about traitors who have no real power in the country, because Russia does not rule in Georgia, the Georgian people are united and strong.” “We have been going out together on the streets for 50 days to make this clear to everyone.” Kharazišvili took refuge inside the building, while his assistants took photos of all the people surrounding the car.
As one of the protest leaders, Georgij Dumbadze, explained, “they take photos of us so they can identify us and pick us up in front of the house, but here no one is afraid and no one is hiding… For us, this is a historic battle, and the “The next elections in October will be a referendum on the future of Georgia.” Another personality of the street rallies, the young pianist Georgij Gigašvili, confessed that he feared that the police would break his fingers to end his career, but in his opinion, “today we are the true winners, because it has been a long time since we felt this unity.” of the people… we will see what happens in the future, but today we feel superior to them, we know how to protest peacefully and no one has attacked the police, there is a light that illuminates our path.
In all the media and social networks there are photos of young people sitting on the floor, reading books together and studying, with the elders bringing them food. For the authorities, “this is nothing more than theater,” and they accuse young people of paralyzing the country instead of going to school. One of them, Mariam, told Radio Svoboda that “for 12 years the Georgian Dream has been sowing nihilism; For a while we let it go, believing that we were really people without self-esteem, but today we have won above all against ourselves, we have defeated despair and depression.
Even after the presidential veto is overturned, according to the hopes of many, the “Russian law” could not be applied, to avoid sanctions and restrictions by Washington and Brussels, which have already been announced by several representatives and provoked precisely by the street protests. The protest demonstrations could also fade away, pending the elections, but some observers fear that they will continue until October without a break, with unforeseeable consequences for Georgian society, and not only.
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