Image by Arzu Geybullayeva, courtesy of the authors.
This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
On November 28, 2024, Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the ruling Georgian Dream party's decision to halt the country's EU membership bid “until 2028.” The news sparked widespread demonstrations. Since then, thousands have taken to the streets, demanding the government continue its EU trajectory. On Friday, March 7, 2025, the protests entered their 100th day. The ruling party has not budged, however, resorting to sweeping legal changes and arrests instead. During the 100 days of protest, Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue has been blocked daily, with a varying number of people turning out.
On Friday night, March 7, protesters gathered outside Tbilisi State University, where a letter from academics was read out expressing concern that reforms announced by the government threatened to curtail academic freedom. Protesters then marched to parliament before dispersing shortly after.
“We’re exhausted, we’re burned out — but I still believe this protest will bring results,” said Tornike Abuladze, a 26-year-old activist attending the demonstration, in an interview with OC Media.
“Nothing has ever been achieved without a fight,” said another protest participant, Ketevan Janjalia, 52.
Beyond the 100 days
The most recent protest is not just about the country's paused EU membership talks. The country has been engulfed in a political crisis since October 2020, when opposition groups contested the results of parliamentary elections won by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Since 2020, the country has witnessed a decline in press freedoms, numerous attacks on civil society, and an overalldecline in democracy.
In 2023, thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest a “foreign agent” law. Although the initial response succeeded in forcing the government to withdraw the bill, it was reintroduced in April 2024. This time, despite the protests, the ruling Georgian Dream lawmakers approved the new bill. Following the parliamentary vote in October 2024, protests resumed, this time contesting election results and calling for a re-do. Despite mounting public pressure and international criticism, the government has not budged, becoming increasingly brazen against protesting Georgians and international scrutiny. Then, in November 2024, came the controversial announcement by the prime minister on postponing the accession plans.
Amid ongoing people's resistance, the government “introduced a series of repressive laws aimed at further stifling dissent, independent media and civil society,” reported Civil.ge. According to the online news outlet, 49 protesters who were charged with criminal offenses remain in prison.
Scores of journalists have been reportedly beaten, abused and detained while covering the protests. Among the legal changes are a set of amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code, giving more power to the police, including the power to detain protesters without due process, increased fines, and additional restrictions.
Purges and crackdowns for taking part in protests have hit all layers of Georgian society, including students, academics, public servants and scores of others.
Commenting on the legal amendments, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said, “The Georgian authorities’ use of newly enacted, draconian legislation to suppress peaceful dissent marks a disturbing escalation in their crackdown on human rights. The laws, hurriedly passed in December 2024, effectively criminalize even symbolic acts of protest, such as placing stickers on public property. These measures are being deliberately wielded to target peaceful protestors and stifle dissenting voices, including journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists.”
On March 5, the ruling party approved several new legislative packages and amendments, including a copy of the US FARA (US Foreign Agent Legislation Act), changes to the broadcasting law, and amendments that would criminalize treason, abolish the mention of gender in Georgia’s legislation, and exclude civil society organizations from all official decision-making processes.
US FARA dominated the government's narrative when it reintroduced the bill on foreign agents in April 2024. At the time, the analysis of the draft text showed the proposed bill was strikingly similar to Russia's 2012 “foreign agent” law, which has infamously been used to crush dissent and opposition in Russia.
In his comparative analysis between the draft Georgian bill and FARA for Civil.ge, international lawyer Ted Jonas highlighted key differences between the US bill and the proposed Georgian bill, namely, the historical context and the definition of who is and is not a foreign agent.
“One of the most fundamental differences between the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and the proposed Georgian foreign agents law is the historical context in which the two laws originated and who they were directed against. The US Congress adopted FARA in 1938 specifically to target lobbying and consulting firms acting on behalf of the Nazi German government. Concern about Soviet Communist agents also motivated the law,” explained Jonas. Unlike FARA, the draft bill introduced by the ruling party mentions only “US and EU funding for Georgian NGOs as the source of foreign agents in Georgia.”
According to the text of the draft bill, a foreign agent can be a company, foundation, or individual receiving more than 20 percent of funding from a foreign power. FARA describes a foreign agent “as any person (legal or physical) who is under the control of, or acts at the direction of, a foreign power and acts in the interests of that foreign power,” explained Jonas in his analysis.
There is a striking difference between who FARA does not consider a foreign agent: “humanitarian aid organizations, persons and organizations engaged in religious, scholastic, academic, scientific or fine arts, media organizations with foreign ownership whose policies are not directed by a foreign power, US allies.” The Georgian bill would classify all the previously mentioned groups as foreign agents.
Following March 5, FARA would replace the controversial foreign agent law. Failure to comply with the law can be punishable by up to five years of imprisonment, a fine of up to USD 10,000, or both.
The amendments to the law would prohibit broadcasters from receiving direct or indirect funding — including money or other material benefits of property value — from a “foreign power.”
A number of other changes have also been introduced, which would affect the working style of broadcasters, restricting the expression of a position and forcing broadcasters to notify viewers whether a programme is news-based or opinion-based.
The amendments criminalising treason define it as an act that violates Georgia’s territorial integrity and external security. Other acts defined as treason include joining a foreign intelligence service, violating Georgia’s defence capability, disclosure of state secrets, espionage, conspiracy, or rebellion to change the constitutional order by force, sabotage, and assisting a foreign country or organisation in hostile activities against Georgia.
The abolishment of the word “gender” would come as part of a legislative package proposed by a group of 19 MPs from Georgian Dream and its satellite party, People’s Power. The proposed amendments aim to modify 16 laws in Georgia where the term “gender” appears in any form.
The exclusion of civil society organisations from public decision-making processes is part of amendments to 14 laws. The legislative package’s explanatory note claims that “the participation of non-governmental organisations in the public decision-making process hinders the effective implementation of state governance.”
Back on the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, and elsewhere across Georgia, morale is fading. “While the core of protesters continues to turn up on Rustaveli Avenue and in some towns across the country, the mood fluctuates from morose resignation to dogged defiance. Victory, once pronounced as inevitable, now seems distant,” wrote seasoned analyst and expert on Georgian and European affairs Jaba Devdariani in his opinion piece for Civil.ge.
He added that the positive outcomes from the ongoing protests have yet to outweigh the cautiousness and fear, leaving the resistance movement in limbo despite it being 100 days and counting.