Anti-government protests in Tbilisi lead to attempted storming of Georgia's presidential palace

An anti-government protest in the Georgian capital Tbilisi following the country’s municipal elections turned violent on Saturday evening when one of its speakers urged the people to “take power into their own hands”, after which some protesters attempted to enter the grounds of the presidential palace, Reuters reported.

The protest, which began with a march from Chavchavadze Avenue to the Georgian Parliament, followed nationwide municipal elections earlier on Saturday, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party won every precinct by over 80%, largely thanks to a boycott of the ballot that was observed by eight opposition parties. 

During speeches given by opposition leaders on Freedom Square, Georgian opera-singer-turned-political-activist Paata Burchuladze read out what he called a “declaration of the Georgian people” urging the people to take power into their own hands.

Immediately after Burchuladze’s comments, a group of protesters attempted to enter the grounds of the presidential palace by force, as special forces inside the building used water cannons to prevent them, after which clashes between the security forces and protesters began.

“People gathered at the residence and managed to destroy the iron fence separating the residence’s courtyard from the street. Some entered the territory,” Paper Kartuli reported, adding that the special forces had “used pepper spray”. 

At least five protestors were arrested, the BBC reported, and hundreds were fined for “blocking traffic”. According to the Georgian authorities, 21 police officers and six protesters were taken to hospital with injuries.

Several senior opposition figures later accused the regime of inciting or staging the attempted storming of the presidential palace, stressing that the almost-year-long protests that have taken place in Tbilisi against what is widely seen to have been stolen parliamentary elections last year, had been peaceful. 

Former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said that the violent actions could only have been “staged by the regime to discredit the 310 days peaceful protest of the Georgian people”, adding that though she “formally rejected” the violence, she would “continue standing with my people peacefully until we win new elections.”

Zourabichvili, who was appointed to Georgia’s largely ceremonial presidency by Georgian Dream in 2018, has always refused to accept the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections, and despite ultimately stepping down after the newly elected Georgian parliament voted to appoint Mikheil Kavelashvili as head of state later that year, she, along with a wide range of Georgian politicians, considers the current government to be illegitimate.

Boasting that “about a million of our citizens will support Georgian Dream, and 100-200 times fewer people will gather on Rustaveli Avenue,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze urged citizens “not to take risks and not to oppose state power and the law,” warning that anybody who did would “receive the most severe response.”