“They want to break these ties and tie us to Russia” (VIDEO)

Protests once morest the bill on “foreign agents” continue in Georgia. Every evening, demonstrators gather in front of parliament and then march along Rustaveli Avenue. From several hundred to several thousand people, mostly young people, come out to protests every day.

Every day following seven in the evening, people gather in front of the Georgian Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue in the center of Tbilisi. Some come with posters, others with flags of Georgia and the European Union, and sometimes of Ukraine, and others with no political attributes at all.

“It’s so sad that a year later we’re standing here once more,” says 23-year-old artist Tamar. “I’m here because I’m protesting for my future, for the future of my friends, my country.” And by the fact that we stand here every evening, we help each other, we need this space of freedom, and not just existence. Our country has gone through many wars and it feels like we are now on the verge of a new war. We young people don’t want this. We want all this to remain in the past, and for us to now develop peacefully and calmly, like other European countries.”

This daily protest is not an organized rally; it is often attended not by prominent oppositionists, but by civil figures – journalists, poets, artists, representatives of civil society. In the last few days, the protest has become primarily student-led.

“Every day we protest here once morest a law that will be the main obstacle to our European future,” says 18-year-old Nikoloz, a member of a youth organization in the opposition United National Movement party. “I think the Georgian Dream (the ruling party – RFI) is now in complete agony, they are trying in every possible way to survive and remain in power. Therefore, they are trying to limit non-governmental organizations that will observe the elections, which will guarantee that Georgia will not be a Russian vassal. But we see opinion polls, we see people’s moods, we see rallies of thousands.”

Nikoloz is finishing school this year and is preparing to enter New York University, where he plans to study international relations. “Now that Georgian Dream has been in power for 12 years, they are increasingly showing their pro-Russian narrative,” explains the young political activist. — When the entire civilized world accepted sanctions once morest the Russian Federation, we helped circumvent them. When the entire civilized world criticizes Russia, Georgia acts in the status of neutrality. Our government is trying to become a second Belarus. But we will not allow Georgia to once more become some kind of province or the Soviet Union.”

The demonstrators do not yet have a clear plan of action, but they have a dream – to become part of Europe, and there is a fear – to lose this European future due to the personal interests of people who have “stayed too long” in power, says student Tatia, another protester on Rustaveli Avenue. Tatia studies classical singing at the Tbilisi Conservatory, speaks excellent French and English, her family – her mother, younger brother and sister – live in Grenoble, France. For almost two weeks now, she has been going out with friends to protest rallies every evening. “I have family and friends in Europe, and I believe that the future of all Georgia is in Europe, we don’t need Russia here once more. Our government with its initiatives is dangerous for the future of Georgia. Our freedom, our education, our work – it’s all connected to Europe, and they want to break these ties and tie us to Russia.”

The “Russian law,” as demonstrators call it, or the bill “on transparency of foreign influence,” as the authorities call it, was introduced to parliament a year ago, in March 2023, but was then withdrawn following the first reading due to mass protests . A year later, the ruling Georgian Dream party decided to return to its consideration.

“This law was taken back last year and they said that it would not be introduced once more. But a year has passed, and they once once more broke their word, and now they are trying to explain to us that this is how it is needed. But we have a different view on this, because for a Georgian, for a resident of Georgia, freedom of speech cannot be silenced like this with this law,” another demonstrator, Sergei Galstyan, is sure. — As for the name “Russian Law”, it is not so much Russian as it is “Putin’s”. With this law, Putin strangled all absolutely freedoms, all independent media that existed in Russia. This will not happen in Georgia!”

Sergei Galstyan says that he spent a year in prison: he was arrested during protests in the spring of 2023, and he was released only two weeks ago and once more joined the protests. “I just come to see my friends, because in the last two weeks since I left prison, I haven’t been able to see everyone yet,” explains Sergei. “Last year I was arrested on the third day of the protest. I live not far from the city court of appeal and when there was a fire in Rustaveli, I wrote as a joke on social networks: “Help whoever can, with firewood or gasoline.” And our government took this as a personal insult, and I served a year.”