Grateful for this opportunity to write about a facet of my home region and to highlight that the countryside, like the city, is also a place of diversity, contrary to preconceived ideas.

2/2

Georgian photojournalists and documentary photographers voiced their outrage in a collective statement.

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Be it in #Kutaisi, #Zugdidi, or #Batumi, the core group reaffirmed its determination to stay « until #victory ». Stopping is not an option. « We must fight and fight for winning », says Gocha, a civil society actor in Batumi. 10/10

In each visited location (#Kutaisi, #Zugdidi, #Batumi), the #motivation shown by every single protester interrogated is striking and appears limpidly unaffected in the long run, if not reinforced by the latter. 9/10

Other Georgian cities witness such daily gatherings of opponents to the regime, its repression, and its policies. In parallel, #protests also unfold in certain cities regularly, even if not every day, such as in the harbour city of #Poti. 8/10

Beyond the city’s size playing a role, that key figure of civil society in western Georgia explains this by describing #Batumi as the “2nd place of corruption” involving the ruling party, notably linked to the construction business in an increasingly vertical city. 7/10

In #Batumi, the second largest city in Georgia, the situation remains similar. On the 56th day of continuous protest, Ruslan Tsulukidze notes that the city might be « the 2nd important place of #protests ». 6/10

In #Zugdidi, protestors like Keren Batok are willing to integrate other #social problems, whether national or specifically local, within the scope of this national movement and to « put new context » alongside the geopolitical one. 5/10

In the small but vibrant #Zugdidi, demonstrators have gathered daily in front of the regional administration of the State representative, facing a dense line of policemen monitoring them. The city has its specificity: #Abkhazia, a #Russian-occupied region of #Georgia, is 10km away. 4/10

That same evening, protesters from Tbilisi visited them, assuming it was important to bring support to the regions of the country and to fight the feeling of being left over. Before joining their counterparts in #Kutaisi, the crew of #activists just spent the day in #Zugdidi. 3/10

In #Kutaisi, last Sunday, for the 53rd day of #protests in a row and despite the storm of melted snow, a group of demonstrators gathered in front of the city hall. They noted the importance of « taking the protest to » their smaller city as « local citizens » rather than going to Tbilisi. 2/10