Tbilisi, Ga. (August 2017) — Georgia police on Saturday pushed back protesters who tried to plunge into the presidential palace with water cannons and tear spray amid a thorough crackdown on opposition in the South Caucasus country, amidst a thorough crackdown on opposition parties, and Georgia police pushed back Saturday to plunge into the presidential palace.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital Tbilisi to protest the oppression policy of the ruling Georgia’s Dream, which is believed to be trying to separate Georgia from its democratic aspirations and get it on Russia’s tracks.
They held placards in favour of Georgian flags and accession to the European Union, and were important goals for many as stated in the country’s constitution.
Georgian Dream cancelled accession negotiations last year, sparking a wave of protests that had been hit by mass arrests and police violence. The move comes after the ruling party declared victory for many years in an election where the opposition allegedly had fraud.
Despite the government’s multi-faceted oppression of protesters, rights groups, non-governmental organizations and independent media under law, rallies are continuing, large and small. Critics have pointed out that some bills are modelled on bills passed in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin severely opposed the objections.
“We are fighting for rights and independence,” protester Sophio Asatiani told the Associated Press on Saturday. She said she didn’t want to see Georgia return to the Soviet era, when it was ruled from Moscow.
Organizers at the rally, including veteran opera singer Pata Bruturaze, have jailed key rebels, attempting to shut down critical media, and have grown widespread dissatisfaction with the government, which has posed mass arrests and high fines for nearly peaceful demonstrators, and urged protesters to “return power back to the hands of the people.”
Some later tried to force an invasion of the presidential palace in central Tbilisi, destroying the gates and being driven away by riot police.
The opposition had promised a “peace revolution” before the city council election on Saturday, but most political parties critical of the Georgian Dream boycotted it. According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission, voter turnout for the first half of the day was less than 30%.
Giorgi Lukaze, a political analyst in Tbilisi, one of the protesters who marched on Saturday, dismissed the vote as a “mock election.”
“The only way to peacefully drive (the Georgian Dream) out of power is disobedience and disobedience,” he said, arguing that people should participate in all forms of peaceful protest.
Georgian police announced Saturday that ongoing rally violated Georgian laws regulating public rallies and protests. Details were not revealed.
Shortly after the vote ended on Saturday night, the Georgia Central Election Commission announced that the vote passed without much confusion. The results will be announced within hours.
Over 50 international and local organizations have registered to monitor local government votes. However, the major international watchdogs that were monitoring the previous 2021 local votes (such as the European Parliament, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the delegation of major US nonprofits) did not participate this time.
The Georgia major non-governmental organizations have also chosen not to send missions, citing the recent repressive laws of the Georgian Dream and the widespread deterioration of the political and legal environment.
