Anti-occupation rallies become anti-occupation shows
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Tuesday, July 23
After 33 days of protests, leaders of the rally decided to change the format of the protests. In particular, the anti-occupation rallies become an anti-occupation shows.
According to the organizers of the anti-occupation protests, starting from yesterday, the protestshave moved to a new and unprecedented stage, as they said, “until Giorgi Gakahriais still the Minister of Internal Affairs, there will always be a place in the country where people can hear the reasons why Gakahria has to resign. Everyone gathered in front of the Parliament automatically becomes part of the show, and they will have an opportunity to share their views to even wider society.”
According to organizers, the program will be broadcasted in various online media outlets but they do not discount the creation of a new TV Channel in the long run.
The first program from the Parliament was broadcasted on July 22, at 8:20 PM and lasted for an hour. The guests of the first program were the screenwriter Keti Devdariani and Deputy Public Defender, Giorgi Burjanadze.
During the program, organizers talked about the importance of media independence. As one of the organizers said, the media is “the business of truth.” They also noted that even if they don’t have the financial resources, the truth is on their side, which is “far more important than money”.
During the program, attendees also talked about the protests in Russia, which was attended by more than 20000 people, who were demanding free and democratic elections. As the organizers of Georgian protests said, there are many similarities between the protests of Russia and Georgia, “this might be because we, Georgian and Russian people, both have the same enemy and this is Putin and his policy.”
As Keti Devdariani said, in this situation, “not attending the protests because you don’t like it’s format cannot be justified. We should not waste our energy on debating such secondary problems.” She also noted that the most important thing is to come together and fight for something that “we all care about.”
The Deputy Public Defender talked about the reasonings why the Prosecutor’s office granted them access on the files of the protests. As Burjanadze said, Prosecutor’s office “needed trust from society. They made sure that no one would think that there were any violations in investigations.”
The protests started more than a month ago, after the visit of Russian MP in Georgian Parliament. During the protests, thousands of people gathered in front of the Parliament to protest Russian occupation. After the rally dispersal on the night of June 20, the government fulfilled some of the demands. However, their main demand, for the Interior Minister to resign, still remains unanswered.
