Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators filled Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue on the night of November 28 to protest a decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party (GD) to halt Georgia’s EU membership bid until 2028.

Tbilisi has seen sporadic protests since GD announced its victory following the October 26 parliamentary election, despite mass allegations of vote rigging by the opposition, but these rallies have struggled to get off the ground, characterised by low turnout and a downbeat atmosphere. The action on November 28, however, marked a definitive shift. The crowd on Rustaveli was one of the biggest and angriest Georgia has seen since the spring 2024 demonstrations when nearly 300,000 people turned out to protest the controversial “foreign agents” bill.

Clashes with riot police 

Demonstrators gathered around the parliament building clashed with cordons of regular police officers, special forces and, later, riot police, who were equipped with shields, helmets and batons in anticipation of civil disobedience.

Water cannons, pepper spray, tear gas and extensive physical violence were used liberally against protesters, Georgian pro-Western opposition leaders and journalists. The television channel Mtavari Arkhi shared a video on its Facebook page of special forces offices allegedly firing rubber bullets into the crowds.

Georgia’s pro-Western president and GD critic, Salome Zourabichvili put in an appearance, walking right up to the riot police cordon and addressing the officers. 

“It is not your duty to tear people apart. Do you serve Russia or Georgia? To whom did you swear an oath? I am interested in your answer. Will you not answer the president?” Zourabichvili asked them. 

“For how many GEL [Georgian lari] are you serving another country?” the president asked, but received no response to any of her questions.

New anger

At around 7pm on November 28, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, provoked by a damning resolution by the European Parliament on his party’s recent democratic backsliding, announced that Georgia would be postponing its EU accession process until 2028, a total U-turn on the country’s foreign policy of the last two decades, which has been actively pro-European.

Enraged crowds immediately began to gather outside the GD offices in downtown Tbilisi, outside parliament and in other cities across Georgia like Batumi and Kutaisi. By around 10pm, the crowd outside the ruling party HQ had marched to join the larger gathering outside parliament. 

While the protests up until then had been about challenging the election results and calling for a second vote, the November 28 demonstration signalled how the cause has now transformed: people were on the streets, and will likely ceaselessly continue to take to the streets, to fight for their future as part of Europe.

This radicalisation of the demonstrators, enhanced by violent clashes with the security forces, suggests protests in Tbilisi will probably continue and grow, potentially even turning into a Maidan type situation as was seen in Ukraine in 2013-14, after, in a very similar turn of events, then president Viktor Yanukovych opted for closer ties with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia at the expense of Ukraine’s future as part of Europe.

Pushed from both sides

Throughout the initial hours of the protest on November 28, the crowds on Chichinadze street, to the right of the parliament, were attempting en masse to push back the lines of police stationed there. People threw flares and fireworks into the police cordon and tear gas and pepper spray were used on protesters in response. Some directly in front of the parliament building hammered on the metal barriers blocking the entrance.

Riot police, who had been mobilising nearby on and around Liberty Square, then formed a wall on Chichinadze, and began to push demonstrators back into the middle of Rustaveli Avenue, with the help of water cannons stationed behind the lines of police.

More riot police and vehicles carrying water cannons began to advance up Rustaveli from Liberty Square, towards the thousands of protesters, who were pushed back along the avenue away from the parliament. These cannons fired water mixed with pepper spray which forced protesters to scatter, as riot police continued to advance, again using tear gas to drive the crowds back.

Throughout the early hours of the morning, demonstrators built barricades out of benches and bins, which they then ignited. Riot police remained on the scene, using violence and pepper spray at close range to chase people away from the protest site. By dawn demonstrators had mostly been dispersed.

Dozens were injured throughout the course of the night, including two prominent female opposition members – Elene Khoshtaria and Nana Malashkhia, who suffered a broken arm and a broken nose. 

The following morning the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), claiming it acted with the intent to “protect public order”, announced that 43 protesters had been detained during the protest on charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying lawful police orders. The MIA said that the demonstration had “gone beyond norms established by the Law of Georgia on Assemblies and Demonstrations”. According to the MIA, total of 32 law enforcers were injured, with 13 requiring surgery, and one remaining in hospital. Information about injured protesters has not yet been released.

Journalists reportedly targeted 

Numerous reports indicate that, during the crackdown, on-duty journalists were specifically targeted by riot police who used violence and handheld pepper sprayers to attempt to disrupt the work of cameramen, photographers, and reporters. Media reports indicate that at least 15 individuals were injured.

“I was with a group of press far away from any protesters and they targeted us [with water cannons],” an Australian photojournalist, Jay Kogler, told bne IntelliNews, adding that he got “completely drenched”. Kogler also explained how several policemen “ran up to a group of press and pepper sprayed them before running away laughing; again, far away from protesters”. 

Several staff members of the independent Caucasus news platform, OC Media, were also targeted. editor-in-chief Robbin Fabbro, clearly wearing a PRESS vest, was hit by tear gas on a side street off Rustaveli, where he was taking a break from the action with a few others.

OC Media journalist and co-director, Mariam Nikuradze, was hit by one of the earlier deployments of the water cannons, which damaged her camera. She sought medical care at an ambulance nearby shortly after, reporting that there was likely pepper spray mixed in with the water.

Alexandre Keshelashvili, a journalist for the online media outlet Publika, was detained and beaten by masked police, who only hit him harder when he explained he was a journalist. He is currently in hospital with a suspected broken nose.

Yulia Kalaban, a correspondent for the popular regional news platform, JAMNews, sustained injuries, including a cut on her leg, and was sprayed in the face with pepper spray, which triggered an allergic reaction.

TV Pirveli reported that one of its camera operators, Niko Kokaia, was injured while filming proceedings on Rustaveli, after the police sprayed pepper spray in his face from close range. 

Guram Rogava, a journalist and anchor for Formula TV, was attacked from behind by special forces officer while he was holding a microphone and broadcasting live. Rogava was brutally beaten was taken to the hospital with a head injured, which later transpired to be facial bone and neck fractures. According to Formula TV, the officer in question was “first beating a fallen civilian, then ran towards Guram Rogava and deliberately hit him in the head”.

As of early evening on November 29, Georgians were currently gathering once again on Rustaveli Avenue for a nigh of protest that is likely to be marred once again by violence. The opposition called for people to gather at 7pm and “Fight until Victory”, although it seems Georgians no longer need any persuading.