The 2018 Georgian protests were series of mass protests in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

that turned into anti-government demonstrations starting on 12 May, when police raided the nightclubs

Bassiani Bassiani ( ka, ბასიანი) is a nightclub in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Founded in 2014, it is located in the building of the city's largest sports venue, the Dinamo Arena, and utilizes a disused swimming pool as the main dancefloo ...

and Gallery. Protesters gained momentum when thousands gathered in front of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

building, where organizers called for the

drug policy reform Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...

. The protests illustrated increasing divide in the society around the topics of

culture war A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...

, especially among the youth. The protests were met by various counter-protests and rallies. On May 13 the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

organization Georgian National Unity rallied against the ″drug dealers and LGBT propagandists″, as its leader, Giorgi Chelidze has stated. Various

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

organizations headed by

Georgian March The Georgian March ( ka, ქართული მარში, ''Kartuli marshi'', GM) is a national-conservative political party and social movement in Georgia. It is led by Sandro Bregadze. The party is primarily known for street protests as w ...

and Georgian Idea also organized counter-protests against the

drug liberalization Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...

, gathering thousands of people in front of the

building. As the protests became more politicized, thousands demanded the resignation of prime minister

Giorgi Kvirikashvili Giorgi Kvirikashvili ( ka, გიორგი კვირიკაშვილი; born 20 July 1967) is a Georgian politician who was Prime Minister of Georgia from 30 December 2015 to 13 June 2018. Prior to that he was Minister of Economy and ...

. The

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Giorgi Gakharia Giorgi Zauris dze Gakharia ( ka, გიორგი ზაურის ძე გახარია; born 19 March 1975) is a Georgian politician who served as the 14th Prime Minister of Georgia from 8 September 2019 until his resignation on 18 F ...

has stated that the raid in nightclubs on May 12 came after 48 cases of drug intoxication of clubbers over the past two weeks. According to his statement, the ministry has been monitoring the nightclubs and detected various cases of illegal drug trade. The aim of the special operation was to uncover links between the drug dealers and the nightclub infrastructure. The minister showed up in front of protesters on May 13 and apologized if any law enforcer abused his power. He met the organizers of the protests and agreed to create two working groups. One group would work on the draft of a drug policy and another on the police raid and whether the individual law enforcers exceeded their powers or not. The actions of the minister caused negative reaction among the conservative public. On 31 May another wave of demonstrations started in the streets of Tbilisi to protest a perceived miscarriage of justice following the killing of two 15 years old teenagers in a street knife-combat in December. The protests continued sporadically until June 11, when the police dismantled camps erected by the protesters in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi. Georgia's chief prosecutor Irakli Shotadze resigned over the case, while the government established a special parliamentary fact-finding commission chaired by an opposition politician. On 13 June 2018 Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili resigned following the May protests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgian protests, 2018 2018 protests Protests in Georgia (country) 2018 in Georgia (country)

See also

References