RFE/RL photojournalist Tamuna Chkareuli was resting at home on November 28 after covering several days of street protests that followed Georgia’s disputed parliamentary elections.
Then she watched live from her apartment as Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced his government would delay EU accession talks “until 2028.”
In her own words, Chkareuli describes what happened next.
Protestors gather outside the Georgian parliament building in central Tbilisi on November 28.
I was physically and emotionally worn out after covering the election protests. It felt like they were going nowhere, but when I saw the announcement that the government is going to suspend the country’s European course I knew that people would be going back out onto the street so I packed my things and headed out the door.
When I arrived at the parliament there were already hundreds of people gathered outside.
Usually big protests in Georgia have music and people are somewhat cheerful. This time, though, the atmosphere was just angry. There were none of the usual political leaders giving speeches; it was purely a spontaneous, angry, loud crowd. People didn't wait for anyone to call them to the protest; they came out of rage.
Police advance with pepper spray beside the parliament building.
Police in riot gear were lined up on both sides of the parliament. That’s when I noticed another aspect of this protest that was unusual -- the police were using really vulgar language. When protestors were cursing them the cops were swearing right back and giving people the finger. They were saying crass things about people’s mothers, just really extreme curses. I’d never experienced anything like that in previous protests I’ve covered.
Protestors move toward riot police behind a makeshift barricade alongside the parliament building.
At around 2 a.m. the protests were getting more intense and protestors managed to break off some fencing. They were using it as a sort of protective barricade around the flanks of the parliament building while holding an EU flag as the water cannons began to work.
A police water cannon on Tbilisi’s Shota Rustaveli Avenue.
The water cannon vehicles make a kind of roaring sound before they start to spray so it gives you a chance to find shelter. There were claims that there was some kind of agent in the water fired by those cannons. Wherever the water reached my skin it felt like it was burning.
Soon my shoes got filled with water, I was wet all over and my skin was burning. I realized I wasn’t able to keep on working so I went back to the RFE/RL office where colleagues gave me some shoes that were dry, but several sizes too big.
Police surround an injured man on Rustaveli early on the morning of November 29.
I know from previous protests that arrests usually start in the early hours of the morning when the crowd has thinned out and police can work more easily. At around 5 a.m. I went back to where the protests had been pushed back to near the Rustaveli Theater. I knew something was about to happen.
Protestors alongside a burning barricade.
At around 6:30 a.m. there were less than 100 protestors left and the police came at people like an avalanche, just a black horde. They were beating people badly. They would attack a protestor, knock them to the ground, and beat them with their fists and kick them in the ribs. Then they would drag them away. The women were screaming.
Police advancing on protestors early on the morning of November 29.
I was taking pictures and me and my colleague, cameraman Ilia Ratiana were keeping an eye on each other and moving together as police chased people all the way down the street. The cops had been really aggressive to journalists all night and they tried to block Ratiana's lens when we passed by, swearing at us. One photographer, Aleksandre Keshelashvili, was arrested and severely beaten that night. I had never experienced this level of aggression from the police before.
A protestor is attacked by riot police early on the morning of November 29.
Toward the center, near the Academy of Sciences, I photographed the police beating a very young person. Then some other young protestors came and were trying to protect the kid being beaten. They were screaming and the police started to chase them too.
A protestor is attacked by riot police early in the morning of November 29.
In Tbilisi we have lots of 24-hour pharmacies and the young protestors ran into one to take refuge. The cops went in and I heard screams inside as they tried to drag the kids outside but they weren’t able to get them.
When the police came back out they were really fired up and aggressive and they attacked my colleague David Tsagarelli. They knew he was a journalist; his media vest was impossible to miss. But as the police ran past him, they punched him in the stomach. We helped him to some steps nearby and he sat there to get his breath back. We gathered some footage from bystanders that had captured the attack then we returned to the office.
That night made it clear that the protests were only starting and there were many more nights of unrest to come. The fire of these protests was lit by people's disappointment and anger.The police brutality everyone witnessed just added fuel to the conflagration.