Georgian Opposition Calls December 6 March Over Alleged Use of Chemicals at 2024 Protests

Opposition parties, activists, and student groups in Georgia have announced a large march on December 6 calling for an international investigation into the use of chemical substances during the November–December 2024 protest crackdown, Orda.kz reports, citing The Caucasusian Knot.

Earlier, Georgia’s State Security Service opened an inquiry after a BBC investigation reported that chemical agents may have been used against demonstrators during last year’s anti-government rallies in Tbilisi.

Georgian authorities, meanwhile, slammed the report as false, with some comments threatening legal action.

First, to give our country's ill-wishers a pretext to artificially revive the fading protest momentum, and second, our country's ill-wishers want to create a pretext for continuing blackmail against the Georgian people and the government they have elected,said Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, claiming that foreign intelligence services "orchestrated" the investigative report.

Protesters marked December 1 — the 369th day of continuous demonstrations — by setting off smoke flares outside parliament, saying participants had been poisoned.

For two years, daily protests have continued with demands for new parliamentary elections and the release of detainees. After police blocked attempts to shut down Rustaveli Avenue in November, pro-EU demonstrators began holding daily marches through central Tbilisi.

They argue that the authorities cannot investigate themselves impartially.

Students have also announced they will join the march, calling on foreign governments to determine what substance was allegedly used to disperse protesters in 2024.

Demonstrators outside parliament continue to demand snap elections and the release of those detained during the rallies. Police units were deployed around the building.