Authors: Mariam Takidze, Tatia Shurgaia
“Let’s see how much wide you open your mouth for me”
“I was lying on my back and they were walking on me. I couldn’t see anything except the policeman’s legs”;
“They were telling me, ‘What were you thinking when you came here? You w*ore, now we will take you to the car and put you on your knees'”;
“Finally, there was only one female employee left in the room. She opened some small curtain and told me to get inside and undress”;
“I was asked at least 5 times by different police officers about what I had taken.”
Teona, Keta, Sona, Maka and Mariam, speaking to Aprili Media, recall the phrases they heard from law enforcement officers on different days during recent large-scale protests. The comments coming from the black-masked people, in addition to containing signs of a crime, were offensive and discriminatory.
Facts, also known as gender discrimination and disinformation, not only aim to damage the reputation of women as individuals, but also contribute to the deepening of stereotypes and the strengthening of inequality in society. Regimes often resort to this method to humiliate, intimidate, and silence women, including in Georgia. The danger is especially heightened during wars, conflicts, and protests.
During the 86-day protests, female politicians, activists, and journalists have repeatedly been targeted by misogynistic narratives from both the police and the Georgian Dream. On the one hand, women have to fight against regimes and injustice, while on the other hand, they have to fend off insults, sexist phrases, rape threats, and physical attacks.
Aprili Media spoke to five women of different professions and ages involved in the common struggle. In this article, we will tell you what they have been through, what they have seen and what they have heard over the past three months.
Physical Violence
“At some point I was lying on my back and they were walking on me. I couldn’t see anything except the policeman’s legs,” says teacher and editor Teona Bekishvili. She is one of the women who was targeted by black-masked protesters at a protest on Agmashenebeli Alley on February 2.
Teona went to the Tbilisi Mall with her son. She recalls that black-masked men began harassing people at the mall and there was a threat of a stampede. According to her, it is thanks to the citizens that there were no casualties. The situation became even more tense after Zviad Kharazishvili appeared on the scene and they started cursing at the people.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
“They pushed me, they threw me down. I still think that it wasn’t specifically aimed at me, I just probably followed through, because for example, what were they doing to me, I didn’t swear or anything… I obeyed all their orders. However, I am not critical of those who swear, because there is so much aggression coming from the law enforcement agencies that you want to confront them with something, right?!”
Teona was once hit when she was knocked down, and then she was kicked while she was still down. A nearby girl covered her. When she got up, she thought a police officer was helping her, but he suddenly, with a rough movement, tried to grab her. She says people saved her.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
The pain in her arms and legs began when she got home. She had bruises and swelling in the affected area. Teona had undergone stomach surgery 5 months ago. In the following days, doctors told her that she was lucky, because if her leg had hit her stomach, it would have caused serious complications and internal bleeding. In addition to the physical violence, Teona witnessed the obscene comments, swearing, and insults that the police used against the women that day.
“Apart from everything else, I’ve never seen such rudeness. It was absolutely shocking to see Zviad Kharazishvili cursing at us through a loudspeaker. Then, on the way back, the police officers would follow us and shout unheard-of things at young girls, the same age as my children.”
Despite the fact of the violence being made public, the relevant agencies have not been interested in what happened — no one has contacted Teona so far, despite the fact that they are required to do so by law. She does not intend to contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs herself.
“We are in the service of the country, together with the services, and I don’t think it’s right to waste time and resources at this moment, although at other times I was the one who stood by the patrol in everything. It’s hard to trust or waste your time.”
We also asked Teona about the narrative of the Georgian Dream leaders, according to which it is inappropriate for women to be active in rallies. For Teona, feminism is part of humanism, and in this process, for her, on one side is humanism and correct values, and on the other side is absolute tyranny.
“Tyranny, dictatorship, and all kinds of evil, of course, first of all need the enslavement of women. Women are on our side precisely because our struggle is just and we are fighting for humanism. That is precisely why they fight especially against women and are angry. The struggle of women, the equality of women, the hearing of women’s voices, the fact that society hears women’s voices, is a very dangerous weapon for them […] There is evil on that side and there is goodness on this side.”
Sexual Harassment
On February 2, a 20-year-old student, Keta Kurasbediani, was also the target of aggression and insults from law enforcement officers. She has been participating in protests since she was a child, but she tells us that the aggression from the police forces was most intense during the recent demonstrations. She was with her mother and a friend at the march planned for February 2. Masked men followed the people in a human chain, during which citizens became targets of swearing and insulting, obscene, sexist comments, as well as sexual harassment.
“The first remark we heard about us was quite obscene. We were eating, when one of them said to us, ‘Well, how many croissants can you put in your mouth at once?’ At first, we ignored it. We didn’t answer, even though we were annoyed and it’s very humiliating. These people were so close to us and so many compared to the protesters, it seemed like their goal was to provoke, to detain, so we tried to move away and generally moved closer to the sidewalk.”
Keta says that the masked individuals were wearing military uniforms and were divided into groups of 3-4 among the demonstrators. Despite their faces being covered, Keta says it was not difficult to tell their age — they were around 20-21 years old. Keta and those with her tried to keep their distance from the police, but the cascade of obscene comments continued.
“Then there was another sexual comment, like, ‘How wide can you open your mouth for me?’ If you’re hungry, why are you standing here?’ Come on, I’ll take you out for a shawarma, but you have to tell me how much of a shawarma you can put in your mouth all at once,’ and they laughed at that. [They] told my mother, ‘Why do you have whistles? Are you in a herd?'”
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
She tells us that many women were the targets of sexual harassment and derogatory remarks that day, both openly and covertly. In addition to experiencing it firsthand, she heard a police officer say to a female protester, “I’ll stick your whistle up your ass.”
Keta emphasizes that the role of women in the resistance movement is very large. According to her, this was clearly evident when during the raids, women moved to the front lines of the demonstrators, including Keta. In her opinion, this is precisely the reason why the aggression of special forces and masked police officers was directed towards women.
“[Women] speak boldly face to face and put [MIA] officers under considerable psychological pressure. Therefore, I believe that the role of us, women, in this protest was very large, we are actively involved, and that is why they are trying to use this method to remove us from the protest.”
Keta notes that the “bravery” of law-breaking law enforcement officers, along with the impunity syndrome, is reinforced by the statements of Georgian Dream representatives, and in such conditions, she, as a woman, does not feel safe.
“Will You Suck My *ick?”
Following the February 2nd protest, several women wrote on social media that they were targeted with sexually suggestive remarks and sexist language by law enforcement officers that day. This is confirmed by the video footage that has been circulating, which describes the derogatory terminology used by police officers to address female protesters.
Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media
Citizen Salome Kamladze published a post on her Facebook page on February 3, describing how the black-masked men addressed the women present there.
"Will you suck my *ick?";
"If they pay you 100 GEL here, come and I'll **uck you for 101 GEL";
"I’ll use you in every hole";
"Her mom is probably **ckable too."
The citizen wrote that this was just a small list of the phrases that the masked men said to her along the way.
“Then they started pushing us, cursing us. I couldn’t stand it and only said – “Aren’t you ashamed?” – and one of the bastards punched me in the face, blood came out of my lip, and that inhuman told me: when I fu** you, blood would come out of your **ssy too,” Salome Kamladze wrote.
Female politicians have also become targets of the police. “A man cursed at you, he cursed at a mother of three, he cursed at an anesthesiologist-resuscitator with 17 years of experience. I treated guys like you in 2008,” said Ani Kavtaradze, a member of the New Party, to a police officer.
The violence against women was followed the next day by a sexist statement by Mamuka Mdinaradze. In addition to once again contributing to discrimination against women, he also tried to justify the aggression of the security forces by blaming and discrediting them:
“Young women are especially active in the protests. I don’t know what the phenomenon is. No man is doing something like this, which several young women are doing. For some reason, women in the National Assembly are more active than men — through the practice they learned in trainings. When you answer to them, they remember their homeland — before that, they spoke such disgusting words, it’s unimaginable coming from a woman’s mouth.”
This statement by Mdinaradze is part of a gender disinformation narrative that the Georgian Dream is actively using.
Detention
Another participant in the ongoing protest, Sona Kalandadze, tells us that in addition to repressive laws, the Georgian Dream is also trying to suppress the voices of citizens, especially women, through specific statements.
“The main voice in this protest is the voice of a woman,” Sona adds, emphasizing that women’s voices have been actively heard at every march, procession, or various activity during the 86-day demonstrations.
“[What Mdinaradze said] was, in fact, an announcement that women will be treated with the same cruelty because ‘we no longer have a woman’s face.’ We no longer have a woman’s face because we speak loudly and dare to raise our voices, grab a bullhorn and shout?! They told us that because you behave like this, you are no longer a woman and, accordingly, we will treat you with the same cruelty as, for example, men in November and early December. I don’t know how many men’s facial bones were crushed.”
Speaking about the women participating in the protest, Sona mentions the case of Batumelebi and Netgazeti director Mzia Amaghlobeli. Sona calls it unfair that Mzia is being charged under the same article under which a man was arrested for stabbing three police officers.
“This man and Mzia Amaghlobeli are being charged with the exact same crime, who absolutely deservedly slapped not a police officer, but a violent man, and is being punished for it, because she is a fearless and strong woman.”
Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media
On February 11, the Center for Social Justice responded to the aggression against women involved in peaceful protests.
“The persecution and sexism of women have taken severe forms and, beyond repressive practices in the police, indicate a strengthening of a misogynistic culture,” the statement reads.
The organization reviews the forms of persecution and abuse against female activists during the ongoing protests in Tbilisi and the regions and writes: “ In recent weeks, women have increasingly become targets of police and masked security forces at various protest rallies, victims of physical and psychological violence. In recent weeks, more than 19 female activists have been arrested, imprisoned and/or fined in Batumi, Zugdidi and Tbilisi.”
On January 18, the Temka police arrested 6 citizens for wearing masks. One of them was Sona Kalandadze.
“When the noise started, I didn’t think they would arrest me, because the police didn’t come to me personally and tell me to obey the order and take off my mask. Then I understood better what happened on the cameras. There were many more police officers than us, a circle formed around us, and at some point, when they arrested one person and brought him in, I fell. I remember the sound of them calling out, “Bring her in too.” I thought then that I think they’re arresting me, and at that moment, a lot of police officers rushed at me. Then I saw on the video, I think there were 10 or 12 police officers arresting me.”
Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media
The videos of the arrest show that while Sona was taken into the department, the glass of the entrance door broke. Sona and the police officers were not injured. Sona recalls that at the moment of arrest, the police officers pulled her hair and verbally abused her. They held her for an hour and a half, not allowing her to call her family members, but instead asked her for the password to her phone so that they could open it. Sona was not allowed to call her family members at the main patrol police department either. There, Sona and her friends spent 3-4 hours in the so-called summer room, which had no windows. It was there that she heard a police officer in uniform shout, “Take everyone away!”
“While I was there, for so many hours, my aunt was outside, by the building, asking about me, whether I was there or not. They told me that I wasn’t there — every time, everyone lied. When they transferred us to the Dighomi detention center, they still didn’t tell us where we were. It’s stressful, because you don’t know where and how a family member who was arrested is, or if they are caught, where they are taking him. This is how they scare people even more.”
Sona and her friends were taken to the Dighomi detention center. They had to wait another hour in a freezing car outside the detention center before their turn came to be accommodated. They were also restricted from calling their family members and were told to give them their number and we would call them. Filling out documents, having all their fingerprints taken, checking their belongings and clothes — Sona tells us in detail the stages of being accommodated in the detention center.
“At the end, there was only one female employee left in the room. She opened a small curtain and told me to come in and undress. I asked, do I have to undress completely? Yes, she said. I was shocked. That’s the rule, she told me. This room is probably only 5 square meters, and in this 5 square meters there is a door that is not locked, there is a camera and a small curtain that obviously cannot completely cover you without showing your body. I asked about the camera and she said that it is not visible in such detail, it is dark, she told me. She also told me about the door, that now they know that a detailed search is going on and no one will come in. They will make you do a squat, I don’t know, maybe you have something to hide. I didn’t ask too much. Then they leave you a couple pieces of clothing, they seal part of your clothes and then you go into the isolation ward.”
It was already night when Sona entered the isolation cell. This space was concrete, and very small. It was filled with static objects: a bed, a table, and a chair attached to the wall. “I need air,” was the first thing she asked when they opened the door and told her she had to come in here. The guard replied, “Don’t worry, don’t be afraid of the lack of air.”
“I entered the room. The door was closed, which was very thick. There is a small crack in the door and in 5-10 minutes someone’s eyes will look in. They are probably checking so that you don’t harm yourself. They will be surprised and will keep an eye on you. No one will treat you badly there. Periodically, one of the guards would look in and ask me, do you have a cigarette? Do you want a cigarette? Do you have a lighter?”
Sona and three other girls were released within 24 hours of their arrest, while the two boys remained in custody. A trial has not yet been scheduled for Sona’s case.
“We will have to face a much worse situation if we are not fearless and resolute. Our resolute resistance and fearlessness are very important now. I know for a fact that these tyrants fear resolute and fearless citizens the most.”
In addition to sexist language, threats of sexual violence, and verbal and physical abuse, women and human rights defenders have been reporting degrading treatment during searches, arrests, and other procedural actions during these 86 days.
For example, the Social Justice Center’s statement describes the details of Mzia Amaghlobeli’s detention. Mzia Amaghlobeli was detained twice on the night of January 11. According to human rights activists, the second time, after being detained under criminal law, Mzia Amaghlobeli became a victim of degrading treatment.
“Before taking her to the police building, in the yard, Irakli Dgebuadze repeatedly verbally abused her and threatened to open a criminal case against her. Dgebuadze tried to physically assault her several times in the department. Other police officers were able to restrain Irakli Dgebuadze and take him out of the room. When one of them entered the room, he spat in Mzia Amaghlobeli’s face. Also, in accordance with his order, Mzia Amaghlobeli was not given the opportunity to drink water and satisfy other basic needs for a certain period of time,” — this is how the organization describes the episode of Mzia Amaghlobeli’s detention.
As for the degrading treatment during the search, one of the founders of the group, Nancy Woland, described in a public post how the search was conducted at her home on February 1. In addition to checking rooms and belongings, Nancy was also asked to undress.
“This was the first psychological abuse I experienced when I was told to take off all my clothes. Yes, I’ve been to the doctor, but when the injustice of the system strips you of your clothes, it’s so embarrassing and makes you feel like everything is burning from the injustice,” Nancy wrote.
Threat of Rape
Derogatory, sexist language, physical and sexual violence against women are not new, and many stories have been made public since the first days of the mass demonstrations. Women said:
“I was sexually harassed in the police car, they made me kneel the whole way, they pointed at me and addressed me in very derogatory ways ”;
“A video was taken by MIA officers, they were wearing masks, telling me: we know about you, you strip naked. I don’t know why they were telling me that. I didn’t know what to do, it was so scary ”;
Among the victims was a 26-year-old woman who, in addition to physical violence, was threatened with sexual violence by the black uniformed men. Due to security measures, her identity is being withheld. We will refer to the woman as Maka, for convenience.
She says that over the years she has witnessed numerous violent actions by the police and special forces during various protests, but never such large-scale violence.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
Maka recalls the period from 05:00 on November 29, when a brutal raid on citizens began. Masked men tried to kidnap a young woman when she and her friend tried to help a citizen. She tells us that the men in black uniforms dragged her to a police car, cursed her on the way, beat her with all their might, and threatened to rape her.
“They were telling me, what were you thinking when you came here, you *hore, now we will take you to the car and put you on your knees and *hit in your mouth, we are going to do this and that to your mouth, etc. This was happening for probably 2-3 minutes. The first thought that came to my mind was that this was a rape threat, I couldn’t think of anything else. And there were these threats coming from both sides, now they would do these and that to me.”
She remembers losing consciousness. She doesn’t remember how long it took her to open her eyes. When she did, she heard masked men trying to determine if she was alive, pouring water on her and hitting her in the face to wake her up. After they realized she had survived, they ran away and left her alone in the street.
“I didn’t see anyone’s face, I don’t remember what anyone looked like, because everyone was dressed in black and they all looked the same. One of the people who was pouring water on me, I don’t know if he was helping me or if he was afraid so that I wouldn’t die, he had scared eyes. Then they kicked me when they saw that I wasn’t dead, and they ran away.”
The young woman tells us that at that moment, many thoughts were running through her mind, the main one being the anticipation and fear of rape, physical pain. She says she has never felt such vulnerability.
“Imagine how much fear I had, my heart skipped a beat, my mind stopped, and then when I looked around and there was no one there, I crawled out to a safer place and looked for my friend, who I was with, who was nowhere to be seen, because she realized that I had been taken and was looking for me herself.”
Strangers helped her on Besiki Street. At that time, she was afraid for her friend, whether she had a similar experience. After finding her, they went home, but the incident was so severe that she did not tell the story.
“When she asked me what happened, where I was, etc., I was just shaking and crying and telling her that they just took me and beat me. When she asked me other things, I couldn’t answer and we just went home. I couldn’t put my head on the pillow, it hurt so much, and a stone hit my ear, and I could hear noise in it all night. When I woke up in the morning, I couldn’t lift my head, I was scared and heavy.”
She was only able to comprehend what had happened the next day, which was emotionally very difficult. She tells us that when she recalled the events of that day, she would start crying and be overcome with fear. She felt a slight relief after sharing what had happened with her friends.
“I understood what had happened to me, why I couldn’t lift myself up, why my legs were bruised.”
For a week after this incident, it was difficult for her to get out of bed — “The bed was my safe place,” says Maka, noting that even seeing a police car in those days was very stressful. She felt more despair than fear, because, as she says, she experienced firsthand that citizens have to fight against great evil and darkness in conditions of unequal forces. A week later, she was back on Rustaveli Avenue.
The violence that Maka endured did not go without physical scars. In addition to bruises, she had a hematoma behind her ear, and after undergoing an MRI, she was diagnosed with tinnitus [a ringing noise in the ears], which she still has.
The young woman talks about the power and importance of the support she has felt from friends and relatives these days. The difficult and traumatic experience has shown her the support of many people. It was at the request of friends and with financial support that she went to therapy, which also helped her get out of the situation.
“I will always be grateful for their support — for every person who goes out every day and fights against this system and this evil.”
Maka refuses to cooperate with investigative agencies. The reason is complete distrust of the system.
“There is this darkness, corruption, all of this is embedded in every agency in the system like metastases, so I never thought for a second that I would turn to any agency and then justice would be restored. Justice will not be restored in this system. If we take into account the fact that you cannot identify any robocop, this is already a very big violation of the law and you know in advance that even if an investigation is started, you still will not be able to determine who the perpetrator was. Therefore, I have complete distrust of this system and any agency.”
Maka also links the police’s violent actions and aggression to the propaganda that the Georgian Dream is actively using to spread false narratives, blame the demonstrators, and discredit the rally. In her opinion, it is precisely this propaganda that is also linked to the government and police’s special targeting of female activists.
“For them, it’s very upsetting that women protest. It’s disgusting for them that a woman shouts at them and a woman expresses her protest. In their opinion, a woman should create a family, raise children and do ‘womanly things’. Therefore, they demonstrate this power more sharply towards women, because it is unacceptable for them to see a strong woman, or simply women who tell them something.”
Interference with Journalistic Activities
More than 50 journalists have been injured while covering the ongoing protests. “While covering large-scale protests in late 2024, critical media representatives were insulted, beaten, detained, and prevented from carrying out their professional activities by special forces,” the Media Ombudsman’s statement reads.
One of the most recent incidents occurred on February 4. A rally in support of Mzia Amaghlobeli was being held near the parliament when a masked man grabbed a reporter from the online publication Publika while she was carrying out her professional activities and pulled her hair. In addition to being obstructed in her professional activities by law enforcement officers, journalists were also harassed on the street by so-called “titushki”. Media representatives were also informed that they were on the list of persons “to be detained”. They were also summoned for questioning on various cases.
OC Media founder, journalist and photojournalist Mariam Nikuradze is one of those who has been repeatedly interrupted in her professional activities in recent days, had her equipment confiscated, her camera broken, and was abused.
Mariam Takidze / Aprili Media
Mariam has been active in journalism since 2009. During this period, she has covered many rallies and marches, but she says that what distinguishes the recent protests from others is the particular aggression against journalists by the police.
“I keep saying that if the ‘enemy’ [before] towards the media was Alt-Info and we knew who it was, now it has changed and become the police. The attacks, the obstruction of the media, this was already coming directly from the police, and from there I got the feeling that they gave the police the green light to use any force to disperse the rally and also not pay attention to who they would get their hands on. At that time, it seemed that the media was the victim of this new approach,” says Mariam.
On November 28, after Kobakhidze’s statement, she traditionally went out to cover the protest on Rustaveli Avenue. On the night of November 29, when riot police used force against the demonstrators, Mariam was standing by the fountain on the Chichinadze Street side, in front of the Parliament, and was filming the events from an elevated position. A jet of water knocked her off, lost her special equipment, and it was here that her camera was first damaged. She also suffered a minor injury to her leg. She continued working on her phone, when the jet of water hit her again.
“I suddenly felt very bad, my face started burning, I couldn’t move. At that time, the special forces continued to move, I was standing in the middle of Rustaveli and I didn’t know what to do. My colleague recognized me and took me to the ambulance. I spent about 15 minutes in the ambulance to regain consciousness. I was very sick from the poisoning and to this day I am one of those who has the so-called side effect, I have been bleeding from my nose very often since that day. I attribute it to that, because I had never had anything like that before.”
Another episode of violence by the police forces took place on the same day, at 6-7 AM, while Mariam was filming the violent detention of citizens by the criminal police near the Radisson Hotel.
“First, a policeman came, threw down my phone and said: here, now continue working. I took the phone, there was nothing wrong with it and continued working. Then I was making an arrest when the second policeman came and hit me on the hand with all his strength again, threw my phone down again and ordered me to stop filming.”
Mariam also recalls the night of December 2, when special forces surrounded the citizens. At that time, the journalist found herself between the police and the demonstrators.
“At least 200 people, if not more, were gathered between the Marriott and TBC, near the wall. It was a very dangerous situation — we could see the police running and telling us to leave. There was nowhere to run. You could only run in three directions, and there were police on all three sides. […] I thought they were going to kill me — when the black-clad men come and you don’t know what to do, you can’t do anything physically.”
She recalls that they wanted to arrest her while he was engaged in professional activities, and the fact that she was a journalist did not stop them.
“Then some policeman said I was a girl and they should let me go. I don’t know, they decide this very much on an individual basis, because girls were also beaten that day,” says Mariam. She escaped arrest, although they violently tried to remove her from the area, which resulted in her hand being injured.
There was another attempt to detain Mariam later, which also ended with the police officer assaulting her and damaging her camera — for the second time.
“At some point, my colleague and I were standing at the entrance to the Rustaveli Theater, and two police officers rushed at us and wanted to arrest us. We both told them that we were the press. This made the police officer very angry, he really wanted to arrest someone, and so he threw me against the wall with all his strength, and at that moment the second camera belonging to the office was damaged, its screen broke.”
Mariam tells us that another experience during the recent protests when she was very scared was on December 7. Police forces surrounded the citizens that day as well. The only escape route was Brossé Street. Mariam followed the march towards the coast. Soon, the demonstrators were confronted by unknown armed individuals on the way. It was at this time that she received a message from a colleague: “We saw you on the list of those to be arrested and wherever you are, run away.”
“It’s very difficult to escape from the side of the river on foot, if you don’t have a car, because the movement is blocked. At that moment, I found my friend, we ran forward, 5 minutes had passed, when my friend and I were running forward, we looked back and saw that the protesters were running and behind them there was a black line, which is the police, who are running to catch these people. I have information that they want to catch me, and I’m still thinking that if they catch me now, they will beat me and kill me.”
Mariam first called her colleagues to distribute the cases, and entrusted her friend with the care of the cat. She did not come home for 1-2 days, publicly posted that they were going to arrest her. Later, she was called and summoned as a witness for questioning. The case concerned an ongoing investigation under Articles 225 (organization, leadership or participation in group violence) and 239 (public incitement to violent acts) of the Criminal Code.
The event was also at the epicenter of the events at the Tbilisi Mall on February 2, where the hate speech and degrading treatment of female demonstrators by police officers was particularly blatant and blatant.
“They had particularly terrible attitudes towards female politicians, a dirty attitude,” recalls Mariam.
The journalist links the frequent physical and verbal violence and attacks against women during the protests to the rhetoric of senior Georgian Dream officials. She says that in the wake of their statements, the respect that law enforcement officers have had for female demonstrators is decreasing. In her words, they have “turned on the green light” for violence against women.
Mariam believes that the campaign of hatred against women is encouraged by the Georgian Dream, and the police are fed by their propaganda.
“I suspect they believe that everyone, including the protesters and the media, is either drunk or under the influence of some kind of drug. They keep saying this, I personally have been told at least 5 times by different police officers what you’ve been drinking, I keep hearing that when there’s a verbal altercation between the police and the protesters, they’re like, ‘What are you under the influence of, what did you take?’ We see the things they say on the street. Part of this is how they treat these people, including female journalists.”
The experiences of women participating in the recent resistance movement, the scale and impunity of the violence shown towards them, the police repression, which is added to the misogynistic, discrediting statements of those in power, creates a picture and leaves the feeling that the struggle of women is becoming increasingly dangerous and disturbing for the regime. Women who we have seen in the forefront of the protests since the beginning of the protests. Among them are our respondents, who believe that with such a large-scale manifestation of hate speech against women, they want to suppress their voices.
Despite such experiences, women, including Teona, Keta, Sona, Maka, and Mariam, continue to be at the epicenter of protests — as participants and journalists. They do not give up their place in the public space against injustice and repressive policies. With banners, whistles, megaphones, or cameras, we will still see them at the forefront of protests.