UNM’s Ana Tsitlidze: When a government is illegitimate, Georgian citizens have the right to defend their constitutional rights, including by occupying any administrative building

“When Georgian Dream has occupied state institutions, we have the right to liberate them,” United National Movement member Ana Tsitlidze has said.

According to Tsitlidze, whenever a government is illegitimate, Georgian citizens are entitled to occupy any administrative building.

“I do not regard this government as legitimate. As Jefferson noted in the US Declaration of Independence, when state institutions have been usurped, and, in my view, when an illegitimate government denies Georgians real elections, citizens have the right to protest in the streets and defend their constitutional rights, including by occupying government buildings.

This is my personal answer, not the party’s, because I was one of those who supported 4 October, and I still hold the same view today, as an illegitimate government is ruling this country. Let us not portray administrative buildings as private property. When the authorities and Georgian Dream have occupied state structures, we can liberate them; Georgian citizens have the right to do so,” Tsitlidze said.