UNM’s Pavlenishvili: Regime tries everything to restrict protest area, yet people still turn out regardless of numbers

“The anger felt by Georgian citizens has gone nowhere; the protest is alive, people have not given up, they come out, fight, and tell the oligarchic regime that it is Russian,” stated Irakli Pavlenishvili, Chairman of the Interim Governing Council of the United National Movement.

According to him, a minority always drives fundamental change for the majority.

“The oligarchic regime is making every effort to restrict the space for protest, arresting citizens for standing on a pavement or for social media comments that displease one Georgian Dream leader or another. There are so many political prisoners in the country, and opposition parties are being banned.

Despite this, people still take to the streets, and the turnout numbers make no difference. Georgian citizens’anger has gone nowhere. Bidzina Ivanishvili knows this full well; he knows what it cost him to steal the 2024 elections.

The protest remains alive because people have not surrendered; they come out, fight, and tell the oligarchic regime that it is Russian. It is always this way: a minority brings about a major change for the majority.

If anyone constitutes a sect, it is solely Georgian Dream, Papuashvili, and the other leaders. I am confident they will end up exactly as Garibashvili and Liluashvili did,” noted Pavlenishvili.

For context, Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili wrote on social media yesterday: “According to the opposition calendar, today marks the 666th day of ‘protest’. This landmark date offers a good opportunity to describe how a group of political protest activists transformed into a pseudo-religious movement.”