One man lost an eye. That is the number that sticks. Sixty people hospitalised.
Broken ribs, facial fractures. A rubber bullet to the head, fired by riot police on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi on the night of 4 May 2024.
Emergency physician Nino Kupunia at New Hospital was blunt: “They aimed for the head. This is not crowd control; it is punishment.” The interior ministry acknowledged 112 detentions. It promised an internal review.
Spokesman Shalva Khachapuridze blamed “radical groups” for throwing stones and petrol bombs. But Amnesty International’s Tbilisi office logged 34 cases of alleged excessive force and demanded access to police station basements where detainees were held for up to nine hours without lawyers.
The violence came after parliament’s legal affairs committee advanced what is called the “foreign agents” bill. The legislation would force any organisation receiving more than 20 percent of its budget from abroad to register as a foreign influence. Fines: up to 25,000 lari, roughly $9,300.
This is not a new fight. Parliament first tried to pass an almost identical bill in March 2023. That attempt prompted the largest demonstrations Georgia has seen in years.
The government backed down. Now it is back.
The ruling Georgian Dream party locked in the votes needed for a final reading expected before 17 May. Inside the chamber, the party has the numbers. Outside, on Rustaveli Avenue, tens of thousands of Georgians surged back into the streets.
By dusk on Saturday the area around Rustaveli metro station looked like a militarised zone. Interior ministry troops formed moving cordons.
They beat shields with batons to clear space. Then they charged without warning. Videos show it.
Protesters say the law is copied from Moscow’s 2012 playbook. They say it will smear independent media and election monitors as enemy agents. The government insists it is only asking for transparency.
But the crackdown tells a different story. Water cannon.
Stun grenades. Rubber bullets. A man who lost an eye.
Doctors treating broken ribs and facial fractures. Detainees held for nine hours without lawyers.
The interior ministry acknowledges 112 detentions but promises an internal review. Amnesty International wants access to the basements. Georgia has been here before.
Last year the same bill triggered the same protests. The government retreated. This time the ruling party has locked in the votes.
The final reading is expected before 17 May. The streets are full again.
The hospitals are treating the wounded. The basements are holding the detained. One man lost an eye.
That is the number that sticks.
