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Beginning of December, soon to be a new slate, year 2025 coming up with a rather indeterministic visual of the upcoming situation regarding the political well-being in Georgia. Great devastation brought upon the population by our government, currently in the works of redefining our railway, originally heading towards Europe, now towards the most unimaginably unpredictable and binding direction possible.
Now for many years the EU and NATO acted as a vital pathway of hope for many Georgians, something people strived and continuously worked for in order to gain security, progress and ensured stability. This ambitious goal, which was also included in our constitution, became seemingly accomplishable for a relatively short span of time, when we got the candidacy status of EU on the 14th of December 2023. However, since then the Georgian government- “Georgian Dream” made drastic political moves regarding adaptation of certain laws, which subtextually carried the inevitable outcome of countries’ closer alignment with Russia, further deepening tensions, and drifting further away from the goal celebrated at the end of the year 2023. This raised suspicions among the public and partner countries that the state was no longer leading the country towards European integration, but in another direction. Even after European representatives emphasized that the law violates European values, the Georgian Dream continuously ignored these messages along with massive demonstrations that were held in the capital also at that time and proceeded on their path. As a result, Georgia’s EU candidacy is now not further negotiated, until the government aligns its actions with democratic and European standards.
On the day of 28th of November Georgia’s Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced that the “Georgian Dream” has decided to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process and restrain from opening any negotiations with the European Union until 2028. In this critical way, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable. Before this day the under surfaced context was always the same, the anti- Georgian Dream population always knew which direction the party was really determined towards, but now it all became real, direct, without any beautification. Now the widespread anger, rage and frustration alongside the devastating, shuttering emotion of fear of the upcoming, which is not to be predicted, took over the mental state of the opposing population. Protests have escalated across the country, particularly in the capital, Tbilisi.
Each night after the announcement, streets of Tbilisi have been filled with people, peaceful protestants demanding the redirection of our countries political flow, little children, students, women and men, all of whom strive towards a bright and an ensured future, keep standing in front of our parliament. Protesters are also calling for new elections, citing alleged fraud in the recent parliamentary vote, which opposition groups claim was manipulated in favor of the ruling Georgian Dream party. These allegations have been criticized internationally, with the European Parliament calling for a re-run of the elections.
The demonstrations have included clashes with police, which is one of the most devastating elements of these events, the unjustified, unproportionate abuse and violence directed towards the peaceful protestants from the armed bodies of power, the police and the special forces. Hundreds of footage of unarmed, unprovocative citizens lying on the ground being punched without restraint by the people who are supposed to protect, groups of them knocking people over and physically abusing the defenseless civilians, are being published all over the media, the population is triggered and shocked. The police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds. These measures are used every day, reporters and journalists documenting the local situation daily, are relaying that at this point the armed bodies are not limited to neutralizing violent groups, they are attacking innocent people.
While legally, police have the obligation to ensure that everyone can enjoy the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including through protests, unfortunately this norm is primarily ignored and at this point, seems severely unrealistic and ironic to even be discussed.
The information regarding the use of tear gas and water cannons during protests, including their legal and ethical guidelines, can be found in various international human rights documents and guidelines, as well as reports by organizations like Amnesty International. These standards emphasize that the use of force, including tear gas and water cannons, must always comply with principles of necessity, proportionality, and safety. – “The decision to disperse a protest must be a last resort – when all other less restrictive means have proven to be unsuccessful.” – “Direct firing of tear gas canisters at individuals is also prohibited, as it can lead to severe injuries or fatalities. Similar restrictions apply to water cannons, which should not be aimed at individuals in a way that could cause harm.”, from all the footage being collected, the reports of people and the media workers, it is easily understood that the regulations represented in the latter are treated with utter neglect by the law enforcers. People are getting harmed daily, so far, over 300 people have been detained, majority of them severely injured. Although this is not the first time Georgia is facing such consequences of demonstrations, these scenarios seem to be repeating time after time.
Exactly in the moments of assault and aggression, is observed the extent of cruelty that can be reached by an individual given the opportunity and practical execution of consequences, where people, in this case special forces, are immersed in their own group. When fully absorbed in a group, individuals tend to lose their conscious rationality, which is when more primitive instincts take over and then transform into aggression that requires direction, a source, a target. Here, in a sense, individual responsibility is lost, for what happens after, who gets injured or hurt. A really important role in such situations is played by the unjustified lack of accountability held upon the armed bodies, – “Nobody is above the law – especially those who have a duty to uphold it.”
These trained individuals are encoded to be facing the crowd of the protest for better means and goals of the country, they are brainwashed into thinking that by performing such dehumanizing actions, they are serving a better cause, for the promised “future” of the country. This does not appear as a surprise, since right after the clashes, Georgia’s Prime minister made a public announcement addressing the police saying: – “I would like to express my gratitude to each police officer, and the Ministers of Internal Affairs who, in compliance with the principle of proportionality, prevented violence and established order.”; – “On one side were violent groups operating in a non-European manner, and on the other side were European and above-European police, Which is very much appreciated”, even though this kind of classification of opposing sides is incorrect, blunt and biased, it needs to be addressed that the Interior Ministry has reported, along with confirmatory footage that the protesters also “threw various objects, stones, glass bottles and pyrotechnics” during the demonstrations. Specific groups of people are using similar measures in response to the raids, which indicates that the situation is drifting completely out of control. In their own way the opposing parties are also influencing people towards analogous strategies, often unfairly benefiting from their strong emotions, particularly among younger individuals, to raise tension and prompt better reaction.
The demonstrations are still on-going, the population will not hold back, what happens eventually is unfortunately very unclear, protests are becoming more dangerous, more people are mistreated daily, but the state of mind remains strong and stable.
From the present point of view, it is extremely complex to determine how the situation will develop in a few days, a week, a month… However, despite such difficult circumstances, people remain in the streets, tirelessly. They believe that Georgia’s future path, which began centuries ago, truly lies in Europe. The Georgian nation deserves this, as its entire history confirms. Judging from the amount of people refusing to adhere to such a turn of events, the government will have to comply with the nations wish, but for now only time, patience, effort, and hope are needed for Georgia to attain the conditions of freedom that it deserved for so many centuries.
By Ana-maria Razmadze
anamaria.razmadze01@icatt.it
Sitography
https://www.state.gov/statement-on-georgias-suspension-of-european-union-accession/
A.P.E. 
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