Protesters have made discipline their watchword as authorities increasingly crack down on them. At least on Saturday50,000 people (According to some local sources,200,000) marched through the capital despite pouring rain, waving Georgian, European Union and some Ukrainian flags and chanting pro-democracy slogans. Police used force to disperse some people who had tried to camp overnight on Sunday, and videos of the vicious assault were shared on social media.
Eurasia Group analyst from Georgia Tinatin Japaridze Once the bill is fully enacted, the focus will shift to the general election scheduled for October, he said. Young people who believe in this lawsuppress civil society Depriving them of a future aligned with Europe seems likely to keep them on the streets even after the bill is passed. “The fight will turn into one of survival: for the protesters, the survival of Georgia's democracy, and for the government, the survival of the Georgian Dream party,” she says.
In many former Eastern Bloc countries, similar debates about closer ties between the East and the West are at the heart of politics. In some regions, popular protests led to more democratic and pro-EU governments, such as in Ukraine in 2014 and Georgia itself in 2003. In other countries, such as Belarus in 2006 and 2020, governments used force to suppress uprisings and entrench servitude to Moscow.
We will be watching to see how much momentum the protesters can maintain over the coming months and how the fractured opposition deals with potential coalition talks. If they can stick together until the fall, Japaridze says Georgian Dream may learn a lesson at the polls.
