On March 31, a protest rally and several marches will be held in Tbilisi. The rally with the slogan: “The Spring of the People is Coming” is planned on Rustaveli Avenue. The organizers of the rally note that citizens will gather on Rustaveli Avenue at 20:00.
At 21:00, the fifth President of Georgia – Salome Zurabishvili – will address the public. She is expected to voice the agreed version of the action plan together with the opposition at today’s rally. She has called on citizens to come to the protest rally several times in recent days.
“March 31 is the day of the awakening of the Georgian people, when, in 1991, 99.08% of Georgian citizens said “yes” to the restoration of independence and the end of Russian domination. And spring is coming to our streets too. The spring of the people is coming with new life, new strength,” the organizers say in a statement.
In addition, several protest marches are planned in Tbilisi.
At 19:00, students will gather near Tbilisi State University with the slogan: “Our future is an independent state,” after which they will move to the territory adjacent to the parliament.
At 19:00, a march dedicated to the referendum is planned from Republic Square in the direction of the parliament.
At 19:00, representatives of the cultural sphere will gather at the Rustaveli Theater under the slogan: “Culture for independence.”
“We are joining the protest on Rustaveli to once again clearly say no to tyranny and yes to the independence of our country!”, – the organizers say.
On 28 October 2024, protests began in Georgia after the preliminary official results of the parliamentary election of 26 October were announced. The ruling Georgian Dream party, led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, won the majority of seats in parliament according to those results. The demonstrators claimed that the elections were fraudulent, and demanded a recount and a new election.
A string of protests and legal challenges against the election outcome took place in the following months and escalated on 28 November when the ruling party announced that, contrary to its election promises, it would “suspend” the European Union accession process until the end of 2028. This decision occurred against the background of Georgians’ high levels of trust in the EU.
The protests have been ongoing in Georgia since then, with citizens gathering on Rustaveli Avenue every single day.
