Students in Tbilisi staged a demonstration outside the State University (TSU) on the evening of November 21 calling for the release of Mate Devidze. The 21-year-old was detained on the morning of November 19 during the dispersal by Georgian special forces of a protest against the results of the country’s recent parliamentary elections, which were marred by mass allegations of rigging in favour of the ruling Georgia Dream party (GD).

In the early hours of November 19, hundreds of Georgian police broke up an opposition-led encampment protesting against election fraud, which had been set up two days before at a central intersection connecting Melikishvili to Chavchavadze Avenue. Georgia civil society organisations claim the police crackdown was illegal as the protest camp was completely peaceful.

Protesters were pushed away from the makeshift camp, which was demolished by law enforcement, down Melikishvili Avenue, pursued by a wall of riot police. According to local media, 16 demonstrators were detained as they went, including Devidze, who was caught on camera being carried away by at least four uniformed officers. Others fleeing the camps were violently apprehended, including several local journalists and a member of the opposition Ahali party, who was hospitalised.

The 21-year-old Devidze, along with others who were detained on November 19, was initially charged with administrative offences. However, on November 21 Georgia’s interior ministry announced the charges had been reclassified and Devidze was now accused of physically assaulting three police officers on Melikishvili street. Under the first part of Article 353 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (assault on a police officer, in connection with the official activities of a police officer), the 21-year-old now faces up to seven years in prison. 

“Specifically, during the protest, he attacked officers and inflicted bodily harm by striking them with a stick,” the ministry’s statement read, as reported by Georgian outlet Formula News. 

On November 22 the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia released footage based on which Devidze was charged. The video shows the 21-year-old wielding a stick in the direction of a group of officers, evidently trying to defend himself from their attempts to forcibly take hold of him and other protesters around him. The officers then actively pursued him through the crowd before catching and detaining him.

As reported by local news platform Publika, following a trial at the Tbilisi City Court on November 22, Devidze was sentenced to at least two months in prison as a preventative measure. The next court session is scheduled for November 16, 2025.

On the evening of November 21, members of the student movement, Dapioni, set up tents in the courtyard of the main TSU building, where the academic community had expressed their solidarity with protestors the night before, to demand Devidze be released immediately, and a fresh round of elections be held in Georgia. In parallel, more students gathered on Melikishvili to condemn the arrests of Devidze and others on November 19. They later joined the TSU courtyard protest.

“Our plan is a daily protest. We need to exhaust the regime [of informal ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili] and force him to announce new elections,” the organizers of the TSU camp said. 

The protesting students, who remained outside the university overnight, were also calling for the resignation of the TSU rector, Jaba Samushia, who they accuse of not allowing students into the university premises to stage protests and of permitting riot police to use the courtyard to mobilise before their crackdown on the protest camp on November 19.

In Georgia’s Black Sea coast city of Batumi, student protesters from Shota Rustaveli State University (BSU) have spent the last eight nights conducting a 24-hour sit in at their university building, also condemning the Samushia’s alignment with the authorities and demanding the annulment of the election results.

On November 21 the BSU students met with their rector, Merab Khalvashi. “We demanded that the university issue a statement condemning what happened at Tbilisi State University, affirming that the university is not a place for special forces by a space for students,” one of the student protesters stated following the meeting, as reported by local outlet Batumelebi.

Georgia’s pro-Western opposition have led a string of demonstrations since October 26, recently transitioning to a “campaign of disobedience” and “continuous protest”.

The first session of the new Georgian parliament is due to sit on November 25, but all four of the main opposition coalitions have announced a boycott. They call on Georgians to take to the streets on Monday to defend their votes and demand for a new round of elections under international supervision.

Isako Devidze, also detained on Melikishvili, declared a hunger strike in prison, where he was sentenced to spend eight days by the Tbilisi City Court beginning November 20. "As a sign of solidarity with all the people arrested and persecuted by the Russian regime during the protest movement, I am announcing a dry hunger strike in the pre-trial detention centre of Zahesi!”, Devidze (not a relative of Mate’s) wrote on his Facebook page. 

 

Protesters Davit Tsotsoria and Irakli Andghuladze were also among those who were tried at the City Court on November 20 and given eight days in prison and fined GEL2,700 (€950) respectively.

Georgia’s anti-GD president, Salome Zourabichvili, who claimed Russian interference in the October 26 vote, has condemned the detentions. “Punitive measures are being taken against young Georgian activists: beatings by police officers, arrests, and threats of up to seven years of imprisonment,” she wrote on X. 

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) has expressed concern on X about reports of excessive police force during the dispersal of the protest encampment. The human rights institution urges the authorities to ensure peaceful demonstrations and facilitate dialogue without violence. “The right to peaceful protest and to voice critical views is vital for all democratic societies,” the tweet states.