There will be no ‘Euromaidan’ in Georgia — Archil Sikharulidze

Speaking with Alpha News, Georgian political scientist and founder of SIKHA Foundation Archil Sikharulidze commented on the protests in Georgia.

“There will be no Maidan. In order for there to be a Euromaidan, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Defense must stop functioning normally. So far, despite certain calls, all these institutions are very clearly standing their ground and making a statement that they will stand guard over law and order. Secondly, the more protesters will attack the parliament building, the less support they will receive from the country’s population, because we already saw this in the 1990s, and this led to a civil war. Protesters hoped it would be possible to break into parliament but received a harsh response.

Thirdly, there were certain arrests aimed at calming down the hotheads. Fourthly, the number of people who attend these rallies is small, somewhere between 5,000-10,000 people, of which 200-300, maximum 500, are involved in incitement and use violent methods. So, the government needs to neutralize these 200-500 people, and all the rest can rally as much as they want. In fact, I now understand that these were the last attempts to create noise and chaos by violent means. In Georgia, these rallies are held outside the parliament; it is 100-150 meters away. In the rest of the country there are no revolutions or coups. Everyone works, and everything is fine,” Sikharulidze said.

According to the expert, attempts to organize the so-called “Euromaidan” are leading to nothing.

“The past three-day attempts to organize the so-called ‘Euromaidan’ and paralyze the country have led to nothing, but this opposition bubble is very actively trying to present everything as if there is a war in Georgia. But if you just turn off the TV and walk around all the places except these 150 meters, you will not even notice anything. Therefore, it seems to me that the Georgian Dream Party has chosen a policy of containment and waiting for them to simply fade away over time,” Sikharulidze concluded.