Protesters undeterred in battle on the streets for Georgia's future

On the streets of Tbilisi close now, determination is simply a conflict for Georgia's future.

On 1 broadside are protesters and pyrotechnics. On the other, is the progressively beardown limb of the law.

Flashes of pink, greenish and golden airy up the nighttime sky, arsenic fireworks sparkle and rockets shriek past.

Flying successful the different absorption are teardrop state canisters. First you perceive the debased thud of them being fired, past the rattle and hiss arsenic they deed the ground.

And that's not all. Water cannon, capsicum spray and rubber bullets person besides been deployed.

But the protesters are undeterred - gathering barricades retired of wheelie bins, and taunting constabulary from down them.

For six nights now, they've massed extracurricular Georgia's parliament, aggravated astatine the ruling party's determination to intermission plans to articulation the EU.

People consciousness cheated, and they judge Russia is down it.

"We don't request Russia," Keso told me, draped successful Georgia's red-and-white nationalist flag.

"We request USA. We request caller beingness and caller rules. Not Russia."

Georgia's premier minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, claims it's each conscionable a misunderstanding - that the protestors person got the incorrect extremity of the stick.

"We regret if anyone misunderstood our message," Mr Kobakhidze told a property league connected Tuesday.

"Our main overseas argumentation precedence is European integration, but we volition prosecute this extremity with dignity, fairness, and without blackmail."

But that's not what it looks like. His party, Georgian Dream, has enactment EU accession talks with Brussels connected clasp until 2028. There's simply nary denying it.

And there's surely nary misunderstanding what happened to Zviad Maisashvili, who is 1 of dozens of protestors to extremity up successful hospital.

In the aboriginal hours of Saturday morning, video emerged of Zviad being kicked successful the caput by a constabulary officer.

The footage of the attack, which has gone viral, is sickening.

Zviad is lying successful the road, intelligibly dazed.

An anonymous acheronian figure, clad successful riot gear, waits for him to beryllium up, earlier swinging a footwear quadrate into the look and sending his assemblage flopping backmost down.

Now retired of infirmary and backmost home, Zviad doesn't retrieve the footwear due to the fact that helium was knocked unconscious.

His chemoreceptor was broken, on with respective teeth, and his look is present covered with a bandage.

"I conscionable couldn't judge the policeman who is doing it," helium said, done swollen lips.

"I conscionable couldn't judge he's human."

But acold from proving cautionary, the onslaught appears to beryllium driving others retired onto the streets.

"When I was astatine the hospital, I met radical who were beaten up similar me, and they were saying to me: 'Hey man, convey you, you're a hero'," Zviad said.

"'We've ne'er been to a protestation ever successful our lives but erstwhile we saw your video, we went retired and started protesting'."

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When he's healed, Zviad volition articulation the protests again too.

Like everyone else, he's refusing to backmost down.