Georgian Dream MPs claimed that an announcement for the November 28 rally in Tbilisi was drafted in Brussels, seizing on a report by a ruling-party mouthpiece that leaked what looked like an English translation of the address minutes before protesters and opposition leaders read it out in front of parliament.
On the afternoon of November 13, a group of activists, civil society representatives, and opposition members gathered outside parliament to announce a march in Tbilisi on November 28, the first anniversary of Georgian Dream’s decision to halt EU integration, which sparked non-stop protests that continue to date.
“For a year now, the Georgian people fighting for freedom have responded to the regime taking individuals hostage, the degrading treatment and torture of many of them, with continuous and determined resistance and unwavering solidarity toward one another,” said activist Levan Jobava as he read the statement.
Minutes before the livestream, Prime Time, a pro-government outlet, published an unsigned English version of the statement, claiming it had been “sent to the local opposition by the EU’s specific high-ranking officials” and was about to be read publicly by the “representatives of radical opposition.”
The document copy displayed by Prime Time is titled in English “November 28th action announcement text-briefing”, a possible mistranslation of the word “rally” which in Georgian is often referred to as “aktsia” (აქცია), while a paragraph at the top warns: “if possible avoid making radical changes to the text.”
The outlet argued that the “document confirms that the opposition receives specific instructions directly from Brussels and acts according to their directives.” A comparison shows that the English text published by Prime Time largely matches the readout, with the Georgian version containing only minor additional phrasing.
The claim was quickly amplified by Georgian Dream MPs. “At 3:00 p.m. one of the Georgian agencies — Prime Time — published a letter, an order from Brussels that agents in Georgia were expected to follow. At 3:10 p.m., Levan Jobava, representing these agents, read the letter publicly, citing it directly from the English version,” Deputy Parliament Speaker Nino Tsilosani wrote on X.
Commenting on the report, GD parliamentary majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia said – as quoted by Georgian Public Broadcaster – that it had now been confirmed “at the level of evidence, not just logical or even thousand-percent assumptions,” that the “agents” could not alter “even a single word” of the “instructions from Brussels.”
Activists and opposition leaders organizing the rally dismissed the accusation, arguing that the text had likely been leaked to Georgian Dream sources and then translated into English. Many social media users also questioned the quality of the English phrasing, viewing it as further evidence that it was merely a flawed translation of the original Georgian text.
“This is an attempt to deceive the Georgian public, an attempt to halt the internal collapse occurring inside Georgian Dream by blaming foreign forces,” said Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the opposition Federalists party.
She said the announcement was drafted collaboratively by representatives of the opposition and civil society and circulated widely. “This text went through countless chats […], maybe 20, to broaden consensus for announcing the rally […]. Perhaps they had a State Security Service agent in one of them who stole it, translated it, and published it before the briefing,” she said.
The claims come amid continued rhetoric by Georgian Dream and its media allies that Georgian protesters and the opposition – whom they label “radicals” – are being supported and directed by the West.
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