Photo Story | Ivanishvili’s Birthday Marked with Carnivalesque Protest

February 18 marked Bidzina Ivanishvili’s 69th birthday with a larger carnivalesque protest on Rustaveli Avenue, where demonstrators have been gathering for nearly three months. Protesters decorated an effigy of Ivanishvili with cakes depicting his “marriage” to Vladimir Putin, along with rats, potatoes, coins, and other symbols mocking the billionaire’s eccentric personality. There was also an effigy of Zviad Kharazishvili, the senior MIA official behind the violent dispersals, who was beaten and set on fire by protesters. Protesters brought black balloons wishing the ruling party’s patron the worst and set off fireworks despite a ban.