Two years of “Gavrilov’s pogrom”: Saakashists in Tbilisi curse Russia again

There is another rally on the central avenue of the Georgian capital. The national flags of the United States of America and the European Union are everywhere. To an ordinary passerby who does not have any information, it may seem that Georgia has finally achieved its longed-for dream and joined the fraternal family of European nations, becoming the 29th country to join the European Union.

No, it's just an optical illusion. The fact is that several hundred people gathered in front of the Georgian Parliament building for a rally dedicated to the second anniversary of the events of June 20-21, 2019. Let us remind the reader that at that time the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy was supposed to begin work in Tbilisi, but it was disrupted by nationalists because the representative of the Russian Federation Sergei Gavrilov spoke from the seat of the speaker of the Georgian parliament. On the same day, an anti-Russian protest of many thousands took place in Tbilisi, which ended in riots and an attempt to storm the republic’s parliament building. The police suppressed the riot using special means. About 250 demonstrators were injured, including 80 law enforcement officers. Several people lost their eyes as a result of rubber bullets hitting their faces. In total, about 40 demonstrators were brought to criminal responsibility for participating in the riots and using force against the police.

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Today, among the participants in the protest action were residents of the capital who were “victimized” during the crackdown, from whose lips anti-Russian rhetoric is again heard - “Russia is an occupier,” “we will not forget,” “we will not forgive.” As in Ukraine, nationalists who have been pushed away from the budget trough accuse the authorities of being insufficiently pro-Western - allegedly flirting with Russia.

“Two years ago, the process of the collapse of the Georgian Dream began, because the takeover of institutions and the growth of Russian influence more or less worried people, but after June 20 it grew into a permanent political crisis - after they committed a similar collaborationist act and accepted the occupier in reality high level, and then crippled people who quite rightly expelled the occupier,” said one of the “activists” Nika Pavlenishvili.

As PolitNavigator previously wrote, representatives of the united opposition boycotted the results of the parliamentary elections in Georgia (which took place at the end of October 7) for 2020 months, refusing to enter the building of the legislative body of the republic, trumpeting at every corner about “massive falsifications and violations.”

Of course, European Union officials also became involved in the problem. The solution to the protracted crisis in Georgia was the creation of a document by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in which the European Union saw a compromise between the ruling Georgian Dream party and representatives of the united opposition. The paradox of the situation is that one of the points of this agreement was the law “On Amnesty”, which provided for the release of so-called political prisoners and the pardon of those who were detained and convicted in 2019 during the “Gavrilovo night”. Yes, the European Themis is just resting.

But the most surprising thing is that the nationalists themselves reject the amnesty scenario - they insist that the participants in the pogrom and the attempted coup are not criminals, but fighters against Russian influence, and government officials should be judged. In short, if you follow the delusional logic of the Saakashists, then about 40 arrested pogromists are innocent, crystal clear, and Russia is again “to blame” for everything.

Thus, today’s action has become yet another proof that the political crisis reigning in Georgia will continue in the future. Judging by the reckless attitude of representatives of the opposition spectrum, who are only interested in escalating relations with Russia, relations between Tbilisi and Moscow will continue to be in a deadlock in the future, although with the change of Georgian government there was a chance for normalization - despite the public’s request, this chance was missed .