The 2011 Georgian protests were a series of anti-government protests in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

against President

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and former chair ...

Events

The protests began on 21 May 2011 when over 10,000 Georgians attended a demonstration in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

demanding Georgian President

's resignation. In the southwestern city of

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

some demonstrations also occurred with some protesters attempting to break into television building. Nino Burjanadze, an ex-parliamentary speaker and leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party, has been a lead figure in the demonstrations. The protesters in

briefly clashed with police. On 26 May at about 00:15, Georgian police began to suppress the protests with tear gas and rubber bullets, and the protests soon ended. On 28 May, a separate demonstration was held with thousands of participants, protesting against violence both by the protesters and by the police.

Arrests

In early June, Georgian authorities arrested and charged Badri Bitsadze, husband of former parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, with attempting to orchestrate the government takeover using paramilitary groups during the violent anti-government protests. There have been 105 other arrests of protesters.

Reactions

Mikheil Saakashvilli alleged that the protestors were backed by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and had provoked the violence. Likewise John R. Bass, the American ambassador to Georgia, stated that "here were clearly a number of people included in that protest who were not interested in peacefully protesting, but were looking to spark a violent confrontation." The Georgian Interior Ministry released video recordings that it claims show opposition members discussing how to instigate clashes with police

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, meanwhile, spoke of an attempt by Burjanadze to "claw her way back to power". Irakli Alasania (an opposition leader who disassociated himself from the protests early on) opined that the protests were doomed to failure because:

Investigation

After the change of power in Georgia in 2012, the new government opened investigation into dispersal of the 2011 protests. On February 27, 2014, former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili was found guilty by the Tbilisi City Court of exceeding official powers during the protests by ordering break up of rally in Tbilisi with the use of excessive force. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which was reduced to 4 years and 6 months due to amnesty. On September 20, 2016, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia charged four former Constitutional Security Department officials for their handling of the protests.

References

{{Georgia topics 2011 in Georgia (country) Protests in Georgia (country) Georgian History of Tbilisi 2010s in Tbilisi

Events

Arrests

Reactions

Investigation

See also

References