Protesters Gather Outside Parliament in Tbilisi for Fifth Night

Protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia, gathered outside parliament for a fifth consecutive night on June 24 to demand the resignations of top officials and maintain pressure for reforms. Earlier in the day the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said that the 2020 parliamentary elections should be held under a proportional system, RFE reported, and that no threshold for parties should be applied, as per the protesters’ key demands. Despite this, demonstrators promised to continue their protests until their wider demands, including the sacking of the interior minister, were met. The protests were initially anti-Russian in nature, and sparked by Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov occupying the speaker’s chair in the Georgian parliament during a conference of Orthodox countries. Protesters saw this as symbolic of Russia’s unwanted influence, especially in relation to separatist regions. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful