On the 329th consecutive day of protest, Georgian police intervened on Wednesday evening as anti-government demonstrators once again attempted to block Tbilisi’s central avenue, defying newly tightened protest laws. The crackdown led to a wave of arrests, with around 30 people detained in a single night.
These arrests come in the wake of a new law restricting freedom of expression and assembly, rushed through Parliament last Thursday by the ruling Georgian Dream party. The amendments replace administrative fines with prison terms for several protest-related actions — including blocking roads when the police deem the number of demonstrators “insufficient,” and covering one’s face during rallies.
Since the law came into force, police have detained approximately 80 people over the past four days, among them is Anastasia Japaridze, a volunteer and active participant in our organization’s educational programs, who was forcibly abducted and unlawfully detained by law enforcement officers during a peaceful protest in Tbilisi.
Anastasia’s arrest represents yet another act of state violence – a deliberate attempt by the regime to suppress civic activism and the expression of protest. Anastasia Japaridze is a dignified, educated, and civically conscious young woman who has for years been involved in Civic Idea’s educational and social initiatives.
We demand her immediate release. Anastasia stands as a representative of a generation that deeply understands the meaning of freedom and democratic values. Civic IDEA stands ready to provide full legal and public support to Anastasia and her family until this unjust and unlawful persecution is halted.
Civic IDEA condemns all forms of violence, persecution, and the targeted criminalization of civic activism by the authorities. We express solidarity with all political prisoners and with every citizen who stands in the streets today for Georgia’s European future, democracy, and national dignity – and whose freedom is being stripped away by the regime.
