At around 7 a.m. on November 30, there were few demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgia, when police began charging. Zviad Maisachvili, a 23-year-old entrepreneur, ran towards the metro. “There were terrible screamshe says. The police grabbed people and beat them. » The young man was turning back when he felt a man jump on him. “In a few seconds, there were five or six of them, their faces masked, beating me from all sides. » Zviad lost consciousness, but law enforcement continued. One of them kicked him in the head when he was on the ground, inert. On the video which immortalized the scene, taken by a witness, her long brown hair swings in shock.
The viral sequence sparked outrage across the country. In a few hours, the young man became a symbol of government repression, whose decision to suspend the European Union (EU) accession process on November 28 triggered a massive and leaderless protest movement. . Zviad Maisashvili today has a broken nose, a concussion and multiple injuries on his body. However, he says “get better than before this attack” : “I had no more hopehe explains, his nose covered with a large bandage. There, I am happy to see that, thanks to this video, people are waking up. »
More than 400 people have been arrested since the start of the movement, according to the government, which accuses the demonstrators of being “radicals” and “liberal-fascists” remotely controlled by foreign powers. At least 319 of them claim to have been mistreated, according to the Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia. The American embassy in Georgia denounced, on Monday, a “brutal and unjustified violence”. The EU demanded “an end to widespread intimidation, political persecution, torture and mistreatment of citizens”. Emmanuel Macron called, on Wednesday, the strong man of the country and founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanichvili. The French president condemned the repression and called for “the release of all people arbitrarily arrested”.
Gangs of masked individuals
Police violence, mainly perpetrated by anti-riot forces, is increasing anger against the government. Shocked, thousands more people took to the streets, including in small, peaceful towns. In Tbilisi, “mothers groups” protested in front of police stations. “Our children are being beaten while peacefully protesting, and no one is being punished for it! »storm Nato Slepakova, 46 years old, came to demonstrate with around ten other women. She brandished her palms, painted red, in front of the police officers deployed in front of their building. “It's the blood on your handsshe says. The government accuses our children of being radicals and Satanists, but it is the opposite! They are good citizens, educated, with real, pro-European values, which they defend today in the streets. »
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