Two years ago, two days of protests were enough to force Georgia\u2019s government into an embarrassing U-turn. It had tried to introduce a \u201cforeign agents\u201d bill \u2013 which critics likened to legislation passed by President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent in Russia \u2013 but backed down after fierce demonstrations sparked by the bill\u2019s first reading. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe fought it off like hell, used every instrument at our disposal,\u201d recalls Ana Tavazde, one of tens of thousands who demonstrated against the bill, which would have forced media and other organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as \u201cagents of foreign influence\u201d or be fined. <\/p>\n
But the protesters\u2019 victory was short-lived. The government revived the bill last year \u2013 and this time would not back down. The parliament approved it in May, despite huge opposition on the streets. <\/p>\n
After the ruling Georgian Dream party \u2013 which declared victory anew after a disputed election in October \u2013 delayed the country\u2019s long-awaited European Union membership bid until 2028, Tavazde was one of thousands of Georgians to take to the streets once again. The government invested in water cannons, according to local media reports, and started making mass arrests. <\/p>\n
Since then, Georgia\u2019s government has shown little sign of shifting its course, which many in the former Soviet country feel is taking the country back into the Kremlin\u2019s orbit. And with the protest movement now approaching its third month, it is not clear what can break the stalemate. <\/p>\n
Multiple opposition politicians have been publicly beaten, some in broad daylight. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, of whom more than 300 allege suffering beatings, torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of law enforcement, according to Amnesty International. The police\u2019s presence at rallies has been bolstered by masked men, who do not wear uniforms displaying their department and rank. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday, almost a year later, you would say this has become a really nasty authoritarian regime.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pro-Western Salome Zourabichvili, who described the elections as \u201crigged\u201d and called on Georgians to protest in October, was replaced as president by far-right former soccer star Mikheil Kavelashvili in mid-December. The government imposed further restrictions on freedom of assembly at the end of the year. <\/p>\n
At the start of February, it proposed more extreme measures that would increase detention periods and fines for certain offenses, such as disorderly conduct or disobeying law enforcement officers, and limit the areas in which protests can be held, local outlet OC Media reported. <\/p>\n
On February 5, the party announced it would be introducing unspecified laws targeted at the media and civil society and expelled 49 opposition MPs from Parliament. Three Georgian Dream MPs resigned, supposedly to form a new \u201chealthy opposition \u201d \u2013 with the approval of the ruling party\u2019s parliamentary speaker. On the same day, the prime minister called for \u201ca sort of Nuremburg trial\u201d to investigate the rule of UNM, the opposition party which governed from 2003 to 2012. The Georgian government has been approached for comment, but did not respond. <\/p>\n
Journalist Mzia Amaglobeli is facing up to seven years in prison if convicted of assaulting a police officer. The founder of two independent publications, Batumelebi and Netgazeti, she was detained after allegedly slapping a police officer at a protest last month. The European Parliament has claimed Amaglobeli was \u201cunlawfully arrested\u201d and that the charges against her are \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d <\/p>\n
Soon after her detention, Amaglobeli started a hunger strike, which she has now been on for 34 days, to demand her release. When asked on February 4 how Amaglobeli\u2019s hunger strike could end, Georgian Dream\u2019s chairman said: \u201cHunger usually leads to death.\u201d <\/p>\n
The International Federation of Journalists has urged the Georgian government to \u201crelease Amaglobeli immediately and to stop its crackdown on journalists and independent media.\u201d <\/p>\n
For many in this ex-Soviet country, the idea of pivoting towards Russia \u2013 which invaded in 2008 and continues to occupy 20% of Georgia\u2019s territory \u2013 is unthinkable. Over 80% support EU membership, according to polls, and every party\u2019s campaign platform for the October election included the pursuit of EU membership. Campaign posters for Georgian Dream even merged its logo with the gold stars of the EU flag. <\/p>\n
So why has the government turned away from such a popular policy? <\/p>\n
\u201cI think he just kind of assumes that Moscow is going to win this war,\u201d Mitchell added, referring to Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream\u2019s founder and honorary chairman. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s going to stay on the winning side.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bidzina Ivanishvili made his fortune in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union in Russia in the 1990s and is estimated by Bloomberg to be worth $7.7 billion \u2013 a quarter of Georgia\u2019s GDP in 2023. Protesters, some of whom have donned masks of his face at protests, see him as pushing Moscow\u2019s agenda in this ex-Soviet country despite no longer holding any elected position. <\/p>\n
Chugoshvili was one of several Georgian Dream politicians who resigned in 2019 after the parliament did not pass an amendment which would have made the electoral system fully proportional. \u201cIt was obvious that (Georgian Dream) was becoming obsessed with control,\u201d said Chugoshvili, who co-founded Egeria Solutions, an NGO which has worked on European integration projects, after leaving the party. <\/p>\n
\u201cGeorgian Dream and Bidzina plan to stay in power for ever. And they cannot do this while integrating into the EU and NATO.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSome local outlets are totally funded by USAID or affiliated organisations,\u201d said Ostiller. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have no back-up, no savings. They will close, and if funding returns, reopening them will be far more difficult.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a country where the conservative Georgian Orthodox Church exerts massive influence, Ivanishvili has also leaned into \u201cculture war\u201d politics, observers say. <\/p>\n
The results of last year\u2019s elections, in which Georgian Dream claimed to receive about 54% of the vote, have been widely disputed; however, the party undoubtedly still has some support. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably got a solid 35 to 45%,\u201d Mitchell estimated. \u201cThey\u2019re popular enough that they still have a base.\u201d <\/p>\n
But for a younger generation, who have only known Georgia as committed to EU and NATO membership and Russia as a threat, the anti-Western rhetoric doesn\u2019t seem to land, and the government\u2019s moves towards authoritarianism don\u2019t seem to inspire fear. Protests are continuing into their third month. <\/p>\n
Since protests broke out on November 28, Keren Esebua has been on the streets almost every night in Zugdidi \u2013 a city located just 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region occupied by Russia since 2008. <\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my home in Sukhumi, in Abkhazia, in 1993. And I was here in Zugdidi, blocking the way for Russian troops in 2008 when I was 19. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not giving Russia any kind of opportunity to swallow up Georgia again.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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