Protests against the COVID-19 induced regulations

On January 28, protesters gathered outside of the Georgian Parliament in order to demand the lifting of the existing COVID-19 induced regulations. Representatives of the local NGOs and the “For the people” movement took to the streets with banners that read “You cannot see the people outside of your jeeps, the country needs to be opened up”. The protesters demand public transport to be reopened since it has recently been announced that the municipal transport will not be functioning until March 1, or until the number of COVID-19 cases decreases to 4%.

Protesters claim that the government officials who are responsible for introducing the new regulations travel on expensive cars and do not understand the needs of the regular citizens. Meanwhile, the latter are forced to use taxis which is quite unfeasible given the current state of the national economy and widespread unemployment.

“People who introduce new regulations are sitting in the black [expensive] SUVs and do not understand the problems that we are faced with. They do not understand the socio-economic needs that we have. We are calling for the existing regulations to be lifted”, said one of the activists.

The protests are likely to continue on January 29, as the people are invited to beep their horns in defiance to the existing regulations as part of the “Beep – the country needs to be reopened” action.

The Georgian government is planning to restore the work of public transport in all major cities across Georgia, apart from Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Rustavi. The residents of the latter three are unhappy with the government’s decision and demand for municipal transportation to be resumed immediately.

Prime Minister Gakharia announced that in the case of the number of infected persons decreasing to 4%, the process of gradual lifting of the existing regulations will begin earlier than previously planned.

Earlier this week, a number of opposition politicians, representatives of the business sector, as well as ordinary citizens have also gathered in front of the administrative building of the Georgian government to demand the lifting of the existing restrictions. Protesters claimed that the existing regulations affected the social welfare of the country and violated the human rights of the Georgian citizens. One of the members of the Lelo for Georgia party claimed that the current government is failing to manage the ongoing crisis and called for a “wise lifting” of the existing restrictions.