Media logo
Georgia

Tbilisi police disperse small rally, detain protesters for violating ban on face coverings

Police detaining a woman during a march ‘against police regime’. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media
Police detaining a woman during a march ‘against police regime’. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media

The police clashed with a small group of activists in Tbilisi on Saturday after they covered their faces in protest of a new law banning the usage of face coverings at protests. The police’s actions led to a larger mask-wearing demonstration.

Police dispersed a small group of citizens in the city’s Temka neighbourhood who were protesting ‘against the police regime’, including a law passed by the Georgian Dream party that bans face coverings during demonstrations.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, six people were detained. One person was accused of disobeying the police, while five others were accused of covering their faces during the protest.

Beyond protesting against the face covering law, the march aimed to spread signs of public discontent to the suburbs of the capital. One of the locations where the demonstrators stopped was the local police station in the Temka neighborhood.

At the beginning of the protest, several participants wore masks, prompting police officers to approach them and demand that they reveal their faces. After this, other demonstrators also covered their faces, which led to the police forcibly dispersing the protest and detaining some of the participants. Not all those who were detained wore masks.

During one detention, the glass on one of the police station’s doors was broken.

After 24 hours, four of the detained individuals were released, while two remained in custody. Mariam Pataridze, a lawyer from the Social Justice Center (SJC), told Publika that during the detentions, police pulled the hair of two women, Sona Kalandadze and Mariam Paichadze.

Tamta Mikeladze, another representative from the SJC, said that one of the detained individuals, Guram Matskhonashvili, was hit on the head several times at the police station. According to Mikeladze, the beating occurred after a plainclothes officer tried to inspect the activists' phones and did not believe Matskhonashvili when he claimed he did not have one.

Additionally, according to SJC representatives, some of the detained individuals were mocked by the police, who shamed them for participating in the protest.

Later that evening, a larger demonstration called the ‘March of Disobedience’ took place in central Tbilisi on Rustaveli Avenue, where participants also protested the anti-face-covering law by covering their faces. Some wore masks with the visage of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honourary chairman of Georgian Dream.

The Georgian Dream party passed the law banning face coverings in response to pro-European protests that started after the government’s EU U-turn in November. During these demonstrations, several people covered their faces to protect themselves from the effects of tear gas or to avoid identification by the police.

The law passed by the party does not apply to Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel — some police officers still cover their faces while on duty at protests, as they did before.

One of the prominent figures consistently opposing the law is Mariam Sichinava, a member of the opposition Droa party in the western Georgian city of Zugdidi. She has been fined multiple times for wearing a mask during protests. Sichinava, along with other activists, has also publicly opposed another new law that bans the use of pyrotechnics and fireworks during protests. As a result, she was detained twice and fined after her second detention.

Amid widespread protests triggered by the government’s decision to halt its EU membership bid, the ruling party announced and passed a series of legislative changes in December. These changes include a ban on covering faces during protests, regulation of fireworks, and the simplification of procedures for reorganising public services.

From fireworks to the public sector: Georgian Dream introduces new legislation amid protests
Amidst fierce public protests triggered by the Georgian government’s decision to halt its EU membership bid, the ruling party announced a series of legislative changes. The planned changes include a ban on covering faces during protests and the regulation of fireworks, as well as the simplificatio…

Related Articles

Most Popular

Editor‘s Picks