Tbilisi, Georgia - Politics

If you've been watching the news recently, you might have seen that there have been ongoing protests in Tbilisi for months against a proposed "foreign agent" law that would align the country with Russia and potentially derail any future EU membership. Crowds of up to a quarter of a million people (in a country with a population of less than 4 million) have gathered night after night in the square in front of the Georgian Parliament building. Mostly good natured, recent reports have mentioned tear gas and violence.

Our scheduled hotel in Tbilisi was the building next to the Parliament. Yesterday we were told that it was being changed to somewhere a little further away, a little quieter.

The law was passed yesterday. Our guide was unsure if the protests would continue or were being relocated. But as we arrived this evening, although the roads were open, there were a lot of people walking around draped in Georgian flags or even EU flags.

FCO advice is always very clear; stay away from political protests or similar large gatherings. And technically I wasn't actually within the crowd or marching with them. But it would have felt very wrong to have been in the city and not seen - and heard - such an event. Because it's not so long ago that such dissent would have been unthinkable in this country.

If you've been watching the news recently, you might have seen that there have been ongoing protests in Tbilisi for months against a proposed "foreign agent" law that would align the country with Russia and potentially derail any future EU membership. Crowds of up to a quarter of a million people (in a country with a population of less than 4 million) have gathered night after night in the square in front of the Georgian Parliament building. Mostly good natured, recent reports have mentioned tear gas and violence.

Our scheduled hotel in Tbilisi was the building next to the Parliament. Yesterday we were told that it was being changed to somewhere a little further away, a little quieter.

The law was passed yesterday. Our guide was unsure if the protests would continue or were being relocated. But as we arrived this evening, although the roads were open, there were a lot of people walking around draped in Georgian flags or even EU flags.

FCO advice is always very clear; stay away from political protests or similar large gatherings. And technically I wasn't actually within the crowd or marching with them. But it would have felt very wrong to have been in the city and not seen - and heard - such an event. Because it's not so long ago that such dissent would have been unthinkable in this country. 

I was in Tbilisi in May 2024, when the protests were about the "Foreign Agent" law being proposed. Locally referred to by critics as the "Russian law", it requires UN NGOs and independent media that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign donors would have to register as organisations "bearing the interests of a foreign power".  They would also be monitored by the Justice Ministry and could be forced to share sensitive information - or face hefty fines of up to 25,000 GEL ($9,400; £7,500).  Protesters were concerned that the legislation would be used by the government to suppress its opponents. Parallels have also been drawn with an authoritarian bill which came into force in Russia in 2012, and which the Kremlin has since used to clamp down on dissidents.

Subsequent protests in the city happened following the general election that re-elected the pro-Moscow Georgian Dream party, shutting down the pro-European aspirations of many of the populace (I saw more EU flags in Georgia than I've seen anywhere in continental Europe).  The election results are not recognised by much of the west, as being fraudulent and manipulated.  These protests were violently suppressed.