TBILISI, September 16 – Despite international criticism, Georgia’s government is signaling a tougher stance on street protests, with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warning that the era of going “soft” on demonstrators is over.
The PM’s remarks came after the arrest of Elene Khoshtaria, a leader of the opposition group Coalition for Change, who was detained this month after defacing a campaign banner in Tbilisi.
Kobakhidze argued that past governments had allowed protest leaders to escape punishment even when violence or property damage occurred. He pointed to previous election campaigns where banners and campaign materials were destroyed. “From today, the practice will be correct, whoever commits a crime, regardless of party, will face the full force of the law,” he said. The prime minister added that earlier responses had been too lenient, recalling incidents in which large parts of the capital were set ablaze with only a handful of arrests.
Professor Nika Chitadze at International Black Sea University told Rezonansi that the government may try to stop protests by targeting leaders. “The goal will be to leave movements against the authorities without leadership,” he said, suggesting more arrests could follow.
But political analyst Petre Mamradze welcomed the shift, saying it will reinforce the principle of equal application of the law. “For years, if someone was known as a politician, preventive measures were not applied to them as they would be to any other citizen. This did great damage to the rule of law. Now everyone will know that image does not matter when it comes to crime,” he said.
