"For safe and strong Georgia": Saturday march in Tbilisi. Georgia protests video blog
612th day of protests in Tbilisi
“For a Safe and Strong Georgia” was the main slogan of the traditional pro-European Saturday march held in Tbilisi on 1 August 2026.
Before the march began, participants observed a minute’s silence in memory of a teenager who was recently killed in central Tbilisi and who would have turned 18 today.
Hundreds of people gathered once again in Avlabari Square for the 612th consecutive day of protests. With construction work continuing on Rustaveli Avenue, the march followed an alternative route for the second Saturday in a row, starting at Avlabari metro station and ending outside the parliament building.
For more than a year and half – since November 2024 – continuous protests have been taking place in Georgia, with demonstrators demanding that the country return to the path of European integration. Every evening thousands, and often tens of thousands, gather in Tbilisi and several other cities. Over this time dozens of participants have been detained, many have faced criminal charges, and some have been sentenced to prison terms. For the first time in the history of independent Georgia, the country has up to 150 prisoners of conscience, including women. Among them is Mzia Amaglobeli, founder of the popular outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. In 2025 she was sentenced to two years in prison for slapping a police officer. Protesters demand the release of all political prisoners, new parliamentary elections – as they do not recognize the results of the 2024 vote – and the repeal of all anti-democratic laws adopted over the past two years. To suppress the protests, the ruling Georgian Dream party has increasingly tightened repression against civil society and the media. However, protests in various forms continue.
612th day of protests in Tbilisi
