Day: November 20, 2024
Georgian lecturers back protesting students
More than 600 professors and university lecturers in Georgia have issued a joint statement supporting students participating in the opposition-led “resistance movement.” Tens of thousands of protesters claim the October 26 parliamentary elections were rigged and are demanding a new vote.
“We will stand where the voices of students fighting for freedom are heard,” the statement declared, as a group of lecturers read it aloud in front of the main building of Tbilisi State University (TSU).
Students are demanding the resignation of Tbilisi State University (TSU) Rector Jaba Samushia after he allowed police and special forces onto campus on November 19, leading to the dispersal of a protest.
Throughout the day, protesting students were barred from entering the university grounds and buildings.
Statement text:
“A university, whose doors must always remain open to students and faculty, has today acted against its core mission. While the doors were closed to us, security forces were allowed in to attack peaceful protesters, including students from this very institution.
This action undermines the university as a symbol of freedom and progress, violates its academic independence, and contradicts its historical mission.
Educational spaces, especially Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, as the first national university, must serve as places where fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, are upheld regardless of personal beliefs or opinions.
This principle, foundational to all educational institutions, has been grossly violated today.
We declare that any administration disregarding students’ rights and freedom of expression will face resolute protests from the academic community. We hold the academic council and the rector accountable for these actions. Their continued silence and failure to issue a statement are unacceptable.
We stand in solidarity with the strong will of the younger generation to safeguard Georgia’s European path and democratic future. This is not just a student struggle—it is a shared fight for our society, rooted in democratic values that underpin Georgia’s independence and free development.
It is our duty to stand with students who fight for freedom. A university cannot become a closed space or an accomplice to violence. It must remain a bastion of liberty, critical thinking, and progress.”
Nearly a month has passed since Georgia’s parliamentary elections, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory with nearly 54% of the vote. However, the international community has yet to recognize the results, urging the Georgian government to investigate numerous irregularities reported by local and international observers.
The only European leader to endorse the election results so far is Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Since the elections, Georgia has seen near-constant protests organized by opposition groups and civil society representatives.
The sole demand of the demonstrators is the same: new elections.
Protesters claim the election results were rigged, a sentiment echoed by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili. On November 19, Zourabichvili filed a case with the Constitutional Court seeking to annul the results.
Zurab Shvangiradze, a 26-year-old Georgian fighter, was killed in the Russian war against Ukraine. He died on November 8 after nearly two months in the hospital. He was buried on November 19 in Tbilisi.
His comrade, Koka Murachashvili, told RFE/RL’s Tbilisi Burau that Shvangiradze was injured while carrying out a military mission on the road to Bakhmut in early September. “He was on a mission with several fighters, cleaning a building. The Russian soldier wounded him there. A bullet hit him in the face. After being evacuated, he was taken to a clinic in Dnipro. He underwent several difficult operations, but unfortunately his body could not take it any more,” Murachashvili said.
Shvangiradze was a biker and car mechanic who left for Ukraine in 2022. He soon returned to Georgia, got married and had a child. In May this year, he went back to Ukraine and joined the multinational “Black Eagle” special forces unit. After his death, he left behind his wife and 9-month-old child.
The latest casualty brings to 59 the unofficial number of Georgian citizens who have died fighting in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Also Read:
- 27/10/2024 – Another Georgian Fighter Killed in Ukraine
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