A group of students at the Tbilisi State University is currently staging a protest in support of Akaki Chikobava and Giorgi Khasaia, two individuals arrested during the eviction of a family from an apartment in Kekelidze Street in Tbilisi.

Chikobava is a lecturer at the Tbilisi State University, and Khasaia is a student at the Ilia State University.

The protesters demand their release and have occupied the university’s chancellery. Some participants gathered in the university courtyard.

“We took over the chancellery premises. The work of the chancellery will not continue until TSU and Ilia State University make an official statement and support Akaki Chikobava and Giorgi Khasaia. We call upon the lecturers and professors to join this protest and go on strike in solidarity,” said one of the protesters, Giorgi Chanturia.

On January 25, the Tbilisi City Court ordered the pre-trial detention of Khasaia and Chikobava. They were arrested on January 23 for damaging a car belonging to the National Bureau of Enforcement. The incident occurred during a heated eviction process that resulted in a tense standoff between the authorities, the evicted family, and a group of protesters.