Students at Tbilisi’s Theatre and Film University end their sit-in

• 4 min read

The Trump/Musk cuts could shut us down — permanently

You can help us survive with a monthly membership or a single donation for as little as $5. In a world drowning in disinformation, your support means we can continue bringing you the real, fact-checked stories that matter.

Become a member

After the police went into the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University for the third time on Sunday, students who were protesting against the government’s EU U-turn and in support of detained protesters via a sit-in at the university left the building.

According to local media, after entering the university for the second time on Sunday, law enforcement officers fined the student protesters ₾5,000 ($1,800) each, based on the recently tightened Law of Georgia on Assemblage and Manifestations, which prohibits holding unauthorised protests in closed spaces.

Local media reported that at that time, there were more than 20 students in the building. According to the students’ lawyer Guja Avsajanishvili, nine of them have been fined.

Avsajanishvili told RFE/RL that after being fined, the students could be detained for up to 15 days in prison for repeated offences.

The sit-in protest by some students at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University lasted for more than 80 days. Demonstrators demanded new parliamentary elections, the release of those detained during the pro-EU rallies in Georgia and the resignation of the rector of the university, Giorgi Shalutashvili.

The current political crisis comes on the heels of October’s parliamentary elections, which according to official results, gave Georgian Dream a large majority, with 54% of the vote.

Following the government's EU U-turn following the October election, Georgians across the country have held daily protests for more than 100 days. Human rights activists in Georgia have suggested that more than 400 demonstrators may have been detained during November and December alone — a large number of whom claim that they were subjected to physical or psychological abuse by law enforcement officers.

The student movement stated that the university began disinfecting the building on Sunday morning without informing the students in advance. After the process began, the university security demanded that they move to an alternative space. The students claimed that the space they offered is small and that there is another space that is larger and more acceptable, but the security refused to allow the students to use it.

According to local media, an argument broke out between the students and university representatives over this issue, which led to the university calling the police.

On Monday, the student movement of the university announced that some of the protesting students had their student status terminated.

According to local media, around 10 students received notices that the university’s ethics commission had decided to suspend their status.

‘As you know, a meeting of the Ethics Commission was held, where the issue of students’ violation of the norms stipulated by the University’s Code of Ethics was discussed. We inform you that by the decision of the Ethics Commission, your student status has been terminated’, the letter sent to the students read. It did not clarify which norms were allegedly violated by the students.

Later that day, the university published a brief statement commenting on Friday’s decision by the ethics commission.

‘The order of the rector on the termination of the student status has not yet been issued’, the statement read.

‘Students have the right to appeal the decision of the Ethics Commission and apply in writing to the Rector within three working days. The rector has one month to review the case of each student and make a final decision’.

Nini Gogia, one of the protesting students whose status was cancelled, told Formula that the situation ‘strengthens’ them.

‘Every mistake they make is a step forward for us to fight this harder’, she said.