A video showing police, including riot units, entering the Tbilisi State University (TSU) grounds minutes before dispersing peaceful protesters on the other side of the academic building at dawn on November 19 has sparked outrage among students and the public. The police allegedly used the university area to quietly cross to the other side and launch an offensive against peaceful protesters.
“Can someone explain to me why the riot police were using the university premises to plan the special operation? Where do I work? Am I the TSU lecturer or the MIA officer?” Lado Napetvaridze, a political science lecturer at TSU, wrote on social media.
Despite the growing backlash, university officials, including rector Jaba Samushia, have remained silent. Founded in 1918, TSU is one of the country’s oldest educational institutions, but it has long been accused of lacking independence under the current Georgian Dream (GD) government, which has struggled to quell waves of student resistance.
Georgia’s current Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, who taught at TSU’s law faculty, decided not to hold classes this semester after his heavily guarded Saturday lectures were met with student protest during the spring demonstrations against the Foreign Agents Law.
Now, weeks have passed since the October 26 elections, and students across Georgia have voiced their criticism of what they say were rigged elections. TSU however has not allowed its students to enter university premises to protest. But it allegedly opened its doors wide for the police to crack down on them.
“The university’s door is open to companies that rob people, to banks, as well as to political regimes, police, riot police, even if it means dispersing and intimidating its students,” the May Student Movement said in its statement. It accused the university administration and its rector Samushia of letting the police use the university grounds for police crackdown. The May Student Movement calls on them to resign.
Samusia has not yet commented on the matter. The university administration and the academic council have also remained silent. Only a few lecturers expressed their serious concern about the alleged use of academic spaces by the police to disperse citizens.
“Using TSU territory as a springboard for riot police to disperse peaceful protesters is a gross violation of all standards of academic social responsibility,” wrote Iago Kachkachishvili, the head of TSU’s Sociology Program, on social media, calling on Rector Samushia to clarify the incident.
“There is no place for police in the university,” the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Salome Dundua, wrote on Facebook.
“Tbilisi State University has always been, is, and must remain the institute of transfer of knowledge, education, academic and research experience, and national values. What has happened, in fact, calls into question this purpose and these values and tarnishes its reputation,” she added.
The ongoing non-stop protests, now in their third consecutive day, organized by the opposition forces, with participation of youth, reclaimed the TSU area on the evening of November 19. The protesters plan to stay near the university for another night to peacefully protest the elections.
The news article will be updated if and when the University’s Academic Council and/or Rector Samushia respond to the matter.
For more updates, follow our election live blog.
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