Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani activists in the Georgian capital on the evening of November 11, to protest against the COP29 UN Climate Conference which kicked off in the capital of neighbouring Azerbaijan the same day.

Baku’s successful bid to host this year’s COP summit, which aims to facilitate multilateral solutions to the mounting climate crisis, has triggered a global outcry in light of the country’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels and increasingly repressive attitude to human rights.

The action followed a similar demo earlier in the day. Gathered outside the Azeri embassy, Thunberg joined family members of the Azeri opposition journalist, Afgan Sadygov, who is currently undergoing a hunger strike to protest his three-month pre-extradition detention sentence. Protesters called for the immediate release of Sadygov, among other political prisoners being held by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who has been ruling the oil-rich nation for over two decades, has been accused by critics of intolerance to freedom of speech and political dissent. “This authoritarian trend isn’t isolated,” Thunberg recently wrote on X, “across the region people like [Georgian oligarch and politician Bidzina] Ivanishvili, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan … are deepening control, stifling dissent, oppressing their own people and using ethnic cleansing.” 

Speaking from Pushkin Park just off Liberty Square in central Tbilisi, Thunberg told bne IntelliNews that, in joining forces with local activists who condemn Baku’s actions, she hoped to be “one of many people standing in solidarity with the struggle for justice and democracy in the whole South Caucasus region, and against the rise of authoritarianism”. 

Thunberg’s appearance at the COP protest is her latest action in what she describes as a broader fight against a “wave of authoritarianism, greenwashing, war and exploitation sweeping through the Caucasus”. 

Speaking on OC Media’s ‘Caucasus Digest’ podcast last week, Thunberg explained that she had a variety of goals whilst in Georgia. “Meet different activists, participate in different events and learn more about the situation [in Georgia], and also do things together with Armenian and Azerbaijani activists in the context of COP29,” the activist explained.

Since arriving in Tbilisi over a week ago, Thunberg has been present on the sidelines of Georgians’ ongoing fight to preserve their democratic political system. The activist was first spotted at a rally led by Georgia’s pro-western opposition on November 4, in which thousands turned out to protest the disputed results of Georgia’s October 26 parliamentary elections, which were allegedly rigged in favour of the increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party.

A week later on November 11, Thunberg was out once again, clad in the orange jacket and Palestinian keffiyeh which has become her distinctive Tbilisi look, this time supporting a different cause. 

When asked if she thought the issues surrounding Georgia’s rigged elections and the COP29 were linked, Thunberg replied, “yes of course, but Georgian and Azerbaijani activists will be able to give better answers, since it’s about them.”

As though to demonstrate her blanket solidarity, following the COP29 protest in Pushkin Park, Thunberg’s party moved round the corner to Rustaveli avenue, where the Georgians’ latest battle in their ongoing fight for democracy was taking place. 

Thousands gathered in front of parliament to welcome a delegation of visiting EU diplomats, who held talks with both President Salome Zourabichvili and opposition leaders throughout the day on November 11.

Addressing the cheering crowd, who waved Georgian and EU flags, European officials urged Georgians not to give up, assuring them that they belonged within Europe, and reminding them that only democracy could get them there.