Thousands Protest in Tbilisi, One Year After EU ‘Freeze’

Georgia's opposition held a large rally in Tbilisi on Friday night, warning that the country's European future is at risk.

Crowds gathered on Rustaveli Avenue for what organizers described as the next phase of a long struggle against the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party. Speakers urged supporters to stay on the streets, arguing that Friday’s gathering should be treated as the launch of a rolling protest movement rather than a one off event, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

One of the most forceful appeals came from Giorgi Sioridze of the Akhali party, who told demonstrators that “peaceful protest must continue” and warned that the authorities were dragging the country away from Europe. He accused the ruling party of trying to “take away the European future” and said only public pressure could push Georgia back on track.

Giga Bokeria, a former government official during the Saakashvili presidency, said the campaign now needed to widen and “branch out” until the government could no longer resist. He framed the mobilization as a defense of Georgia’s “statehood, independence and freedom,” arguing that only a democratic reset could safeguard the country’s place in Europe.

The rally unfolded against a backdrop of worsening rhetorical conflict between Tbilisi and Brussels. Georgia received EU candidate status in late 2023, but relations have deteriorated sharply since, with Brussels suspending structured dialogue with the government in June 2024 and voiced increasing criticism of a number of democratic shortfalls. GD officials in turn have accused parts of the EU’s political class of bias and interference. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze formally halted membership talks exactly a year ago, which set off a series of riots and nightly protests.

Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili repeated that criticism on Friday, saying Georgia would still work to join the EU but would not “beg” Brussels. In earlier comments this week, he described the EU’s bureaucracy as a “symbol of hypocrisy” and called on it to respect Georgian law, drawing parallels to the Maidan uprising in Ukraine in 2014.

His remarks were widely interpreted by the opposition as confirmation that Georgian Dream no longer intends to pursue integration seriously, a claim the government rejects. Officials insist that EU membership remains strategic policy, blaming the freeze in dialogue on what they consider unfair decisions by European institutions.

The mass rally in downtown Tbilisi passed without any major incidents. Organizers said they considered it only the beginning, calling for a nationwide mobilization in the days ahead.