Nighttime celebration fireworks display

Tbilisi - Tbilisi - Georgia

Following a controversial election and an announcement to postpone talks to join the EU by the newly elected government to 2028, people of Georgia took it to the streets all over the country. Demands include resumption of negotiations to join the EU, holding new elections free of Russian interference, the release of previously arrested activists and an end to police violence. In the first few days, the protests were met with water canons, ter gas and rubber bullets. There have also been documented incidents of unidentified masked individuals attacking protestors and journalists. Some people claim they are government hired thugs (titushky), a tactic also used by the Ukrainian government in 2014 in the wake of the Revolution of Dignity. In response, activists organised "anti-titushky squads" to patrol the outskirts of the protests. By the time I got to Tbilisi police had changed their strategy to a more laisser-faire approach, with water canons parked far down Rustaveli Avenue and no presence around the parliement.