The Interior Ministry said Saturday that 29 people had been arrested over the past five days for “illegally” blocking Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue near Parliament to traffic.
“Protesters did not comply with multiple calls from patrol police officers addressed to them to refrain from unlawful acts and not to block the roadway,” the ministry said in a November 1 statement, adding, “Despite their small numbers, the demonstrators again blocked Rustaveli Avenue and artificially impeded traffic.”
“We once again call on protesters to refrain from unlawful actions. Otherwise, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia will act within its legal mandate, identify all offenders, and take the appropriate measures prescribed by law against them.”
About 150 people are estimated to have been arrested since Georgia’s disputed parliament amended several laws to make protest-related offenses, such as blocking roads or covering faces during rallies, immediately punishable by detention, and to introduce criminal liability of up to one year in prison for repeat offenses. No criminal arrests for repeat offenses have been reported yet.
Among those detained in recent days is Giorgi Tsikarishvili, a former Foreign Ministry employee who worked in the Department of Euro-Atlantic Integration.
Rustaveli Avenue has been blocked every night since November 28, 2024, when the Georgian Dream government, a month after the widely disputed October 26 parliamentary elections, announced a halt to Georgia’s EU accession process. The ruling party recently pledged to end the daily rallies on Tbilisi’s main avenue, as the number of protesters has dwindled over the course of nearly a year.
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