Georgian Opposition Takes to the Streets to Protest Stolen Election
Monday, October 28 started in the morning with a call by Georgia’s independent President, Salome Zourabichvili, calling for people to protest outside the Georgia’s Parliament Building on that evening against what she called the “falsified results” of Saturday’s parliamentary election. Tens of thousands of protesters responded by showing up at 7:00 pm for a three-hour rally against what they consider a stolen election. I don’t know how many people were there, but they filled blocks and blocks.
I don’t understand much Georgian, but two words I do know is that “democratia” means democracy and “rusetis imperia” means Russian Empire. When speakers said “democratia” the people cheered and when speaker said “rusetis imperia” the people hissed, whistled, and booed.
Here clips of people marching down the main thoroughfare in Tblisi toward the Parliament Building but still many blocks away. The police had shut down the boulevard to vehicles in order to accommodate the massive crowds.
Marching toward the Parliament Building
As I walked with marchers toward the Parliament Building, I happened upon a gaggle of reporters with cameras outside a Marriott Hotel. The crowd started whistling and booing when some VIPs coming out to enter a convoy of SUVs. It turned out it was the Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban and his entourage.
Orban had rushed to Georgia to congratulate billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgia Dream party’s apparent return to power. While the EU Council was calling for an investigation of reported widespread voter intimidation, vote buying, ballot box stuffing, and the like, Orban was trying to use Hungary’s temporary possession of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council to give a phony EU stamp of approval on the election. The EU Council issued a statement that Orban had no mandate to do so from the Council.
People on the street were not so diplomatic, as this clip shows. Above the whistling and booing, you can hear one protester shouting a couple of times “Putin Huylo,” which he changes to “Orban Hulylo” for many more denunciations. Putin or Orban huylo is an extremely derogatory slogan that originated in Ukraine. It means “Putin/Orban is a dickhead” or a fool. It literally translates into “Putin/Orban sits on dick.” That this Georgian protester uses that protest slogan and chant from Ukraine against Putin ally Orban is another indication of how Georgians see Ukrainians as allies in their struggles against Russian recolonization.
The People “Greet” Viktor Orban
The crowd carried many Georgian and EU flags, but one of the flags that was being waved by the speakers stand was a Ukrainian flag, which you can see in this clip in the center of the frame waving just above the greenery in from on the Parliament Building pillars. Most Georgians feel they are resisting recolonization by Russia like Ukraine is.
The rally opened with the Georgian National Anthem during which I panned the crowd that could be seen from my spot. Standing room only for blocks.
Ukrainian Flag
Rally opened with the Georgian National Anthem
