On 31 March 2025, the anniversary of Georgia’s 1991 independence referendum, thousands rallied on Rustaveli Avenue under the slogan “The People’s Spring is Coming.” President Salome Zurabishvili called for the resistance to take a political form alongside street protests, proposing a “Platform of Resistance” to unite pro-European forces pushing for new elections and the release of political prisoners.
The protests, now in their 128th consecutive day, erupted after Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in the October 2024 parliamentary elections with 54% of the vote – results international observers and opposition groups widely condemned as fraudulent. The situation worsened when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced a pause in EU membership negotiations until 2028, despite overwhelming public support for European integration.
This latest demonstration follows months of tension after Georgian Dream enacted the controversial “Foreign Agents Law” in May 2024, requiring organizations with foreign funding to register as “agents of foreign influence” – legislation modeled after similar Russian laws used to silence opposition.
Zviad, a 19-year-old student, was back at Rustaveli Avenue. Earlier, he wrote in an open letter to Euromaidan Press:
“I am nineteen and aspire to save my country and maybe lead it one day. My daily life is just going to lectures, hanging out with friends around a fire in the forest, playing soccer, watching mixed martial arts and movies, and reading books. I grew up in Samegrelo, far away from the protests, and I witnessed them only on TV.
Since childhood, I have been against this government because the ruling Georgian Dream party has changed Georgia’s course to align with Russia from the moment they gained power. Since the beginning of their reign, it was crystal clear.
From Rose Revolution to “Russian Dream”: Georgia at breaking point with pivotal pro-EU protests
One of their first abhorrent steps was the demolition of our cultural monument, Sakdrisi, a prehistoric gold mine that was part of an archeological site. Many scholars believe it is the oldest known gold mine in the world. The reason? To sell the protected site to the Russian-owned mining company RMG Gold, issuing it a license to exploit it commercially.
I couldn’t ignore the government’s injustice, brutality, and corruption of the whole judicial system. The murder of 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili. The murder of Tamar Bachaliashvili, 23, was later accused of committing suicide. The mental destruction of 15-year-old Luka Siradze, who killed himself after a police investigator “talked” to him. No justice for the families of the murdered Davit Saralidze, 16, Levan Dadunashvili, 16, and Giorgi Shaqarashvili, 19.
After high school, I moved to Tbilisi University to study international relations, aiming for a career in government and national leadership. Less than a year after my move, in 2024, the Georgian government reintroduced its “Russian law.”
In 2023, after a big protest against this law, the government backed down, claiming that they would never bring it back. Yet, after a year, it was initiated again.
Called “Foreign Agent Law,” it was the same law adopted in Russia against democracy, the European Union, and everything it stands for.
It was intended to serve as an investigative law, revealing the sources of NGOs, media, and organizational funding and designating them as foreign agents of European countries. The new law had many additional regulations in it, which gave government officials the legitimacy to investigate anyone’s private life and other equally unbelievable things.
Georgia’s Foreign Agents law: Russia’s new frontline in its war against freedom in the world
That was the first time I stood in front of hundreds of police officers and special forces with thousands of protesters. The protest was massive, reaching 200,000 people. Sometimes, we stayed 24 hours, blocking Rustaveli Avenue, the central street in Tbilisi, in front of the Parliament building, which protesters were always trying to surround. The peaceful protest was met by brutal arrests. The police and special forces used pepper spray, tearguns, water cannons, and rubber bullets to disperse us.
Once protestors were standing on the left side of the Parliament, and special forces were splashing us with water cannons from the inner yard. One moment, I leaned over and felt something hitting my back. It was tear gas. It wasn’t painful, but still wondering, I looked back and saw the gas spreading in front of me. All the smoke got into my face, and I didn’t have a gas mask.
Tear gas is typically delivered in canisters, either thrown by hand or launched. These devices contain CS, CR, or CN agents mixed with a pyrotechnic compound that, when ignited, produces a smoke or fog of aerosolized particles. Tear gas has chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin.
More on the chemicals used against protesters
Three tear gas grenades thrown by special forces made us abandon that place for a while and join the protestors on the main street. I noticed that if you do something dangerous at the protest, 90% of protestors would always just stand by, doing nothing, just watching… even though there could be 50,000 – 200,000 of them.
For ten minutes, I couldn’t breathe and thought I wouldn’t survive. While backing up, I saw a girl coughing and falling. Another guy and I dragged her to safety. Afterward, we all got our breath and strength back, and we returned to the protest. This was always our way. No matter what the special forces would do to us, we would still protest and fight back.
Unfortunately, the 2024 “Russian law” demonstrations failed. This time, the government did not back down and passed the law.
In October 2024, we took to the streets again, protesting the pro-Russian Georgian Dream Party rigging the elections. Georgian Dream, nicknamed Russian Nightmare, is ruled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Puppetmaster, from behind the curtains. He founded this party in 2012, initially pretending to be pro-European. Over time, the party shifted toward a pro-Russian stance, stalling Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration while strengthening economic and political ties with Moscow.
The situation was going “peacefully” until our so-called, illegitimate prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced ending negotiations with the EU about joining them until 2028. Minutes after hearing this, I left my job and went straight to Parliament. Thousands of people gathered there very quickly, and from that moment, everything changed.
Demonstrations were happening in full force at some point. It was what it should have always been: fighting against special forces, confronting them eye to eye, no fear, no fatigue, no cold. The momentum, ideology, and patriotism.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. But still, it was something. This was giving me a small hope, which has now faded away like a candle in the darkness.
We saw some unbelievable brutality from special forces. It didn’t matter to them if they were hitting a woman, a journalist, or a foreign national. It didn’t matter if rubber bullets blinded us, and it didn’t matter if tear gas grenades were thrown in the crowd of elders, women, and children.
I had at least 11 violent confrontations with special forces—we fought like enemies. Once, they threw 5–7 gas canisters onto the road leading to Rustaveli station, blocking the only escape route.
While I was backing up, I saw three women lying on the ground, unconscious. I couldn’t stop at that moment because minutes earlier, the police had ripped my gas mask off my face. Throwing this amount of gas in a crowd of thousands of people is an attempted murder because the intent was not to push people back and maintain peace but to suffocate us.
Hearing about such brutality, seeing it online, and reading articles about it makes you emotional and angers you. Seeing this with your own eyes, seeing it happening to your friends, your people, to you, and your country, is much more. It cannot be easily explained.
After gas grenades were thrown at us, my friend, who has asthma, nearly choked and couldn’t breathe or see anything, but fortunately, he survived. Many terrible and inhuman things have happened here, but even though they angered us so much, the nature of the protest changed.
By now, the crowds have dwindled—no more 200,000 people in the streets, no more round-the-clock resistance, no more clashes with special forces. No more fighting against injustice.
I became very angry and disappointed. I have all these questions: Why did these prisoners of the regime sacrifice their freedom? What for? Why was I willing to sacrifice my life, freedom, and everything I had? Was it for our fight to end like this? Many will say it’s not the end and hope never dies, but if it continues like this, Georgia will cease to exist as a country. It will be captured by Russia.
I was arrested, fought with special forces, and had brutal confrontations with Titushkas—civilians hired by pro-government people to beat up protestors. Titushkas are well known in Ukraine because of Vadim Titushko, a guy who was head of the Titushkas, who even killed protestors in Ukraine. Many, like me, were sacrificing a lot for our country, but we were too few.
I got mad because of 200,000 people, only 20-30 would fight like hell against the police. Only 10-20 would try to save people from being beaten and arrested. Now, not even that happens. Now, only about 2,000 people are going out there for an hour, screaming and singing, and then going home… They chant things like: “No justice, no peace!”
I am asking, “Do we have justice?” The answer is no. Then, what happened to this so-called “no peace”?
I see no action, just endless talk. I don’t see any positive outcomes from all of this. We have practically lost. Until the protestors realize that they don’t need anyone to organize the action or fight for their country, nothing will change. By the time they realize it, it will be too late.
Ukrainians sacrificed absolutely everything for their freedom during the Euromaidan Revolution in 2014. They understood the consequences and went all in, and they won. Putin’s puppet, Victor Yanukovych, fled to Russia. There are many differences between Georgia and Ukraine. It’s about spirit.
Unfortunately, the majority of Georgians don’t have this fighting spirit. They are not making the smallest effort. They are not willing to sacrifice their jobs, let alone personal freedom. That’s the difference between us.
Blocking the main city avenue every day is not a victory, because while you are celebrating that, you are losing every day.”
On 31 March, Zviad returned to the protests as President Zurabishvili launched her new political platform. After 128 days of continuous demonstrations, Georgia stands at a crossroads between European integration and Russian influence. As one young protester’s story reveals, the struggle for Georgia’s future continues – but time may be running out.
*The author’s name has been changed due to safety concerns following their arrest.
