Gori is a town that knows Russia and its aggression all too well. Tonight, its students and their families and colleagues are out on the streets of the central Georgian town protesting Georgian Dream’s increasingly pro-Russian foreign policy.
Some youth, speaking to a Mtavari Arkhi journalist, passionately reminded listeners of the Abkhaz war, where their fathers and uncles were crippled or killed. They remembered the ruins of occupied Gori in 2008, and the pain the Ukrainians are suffering today.
One student respondent noted her shame that there were still many university students countrywide who feared the potential repercussions of coming out onto the streets and raising their voices against the government, noting the irony of the fact the very same students will accept EU grants and exchanges in European universities.
Gori is one of many towns where the students have loudly raised their voices today – students and schoolchildren alike have been on strike across Georgia. Teachers from state schools whose directors refused to close their doors for the nationwide unofficial protest posted their allegiance to the pro-European cause on social media, with the words: “Being a civil servant, I remain committed to Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration course.”
