Authorities in Tbilisi remove photos of people injured during protests from Christmas tree
Municipal workers removed photos of Georgian media employees, who had been injured during protests or deliberately attacked by law enforcement or "thugs", from a Christmas tree that the authorities had begun assembling in Tbilisi on the night of 8-9 December.
According to opposition Mtavari TV channel, reports indicate that municipal workers took down the photographs from the Christmas tree structure and threw them into the rubbish.
Following this, city hall employees resumed assembling the tree.
Tbilisi municipality wanted to erect a Christmas tree but people decorated it with photos of beaten and injured protesters and journalists pic.twitter.com/gHhbUGpArB
– Giorgi Kandelaki (@kandelakigiorgi) December 8, 2024
The previous day, the city authorities in Tbilisi were unable to fully assemble the Christmas tree being set up at the scene of the Georgian "Euromaidan" protests on Rustaveli Avenue, near the Parliament.
As a result, the top part of the tree was covered with artificial branches, while the lower part was decorated with "protest ornaments". The tree's frame was adorned with flags of Georgia, the EU, Ukraine and the United States, as well as photos of Georgian media workers who had been injured during the dispersal of protests or deliberately targeted by law enforcement or "thugs".
During Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, the authorities also began erecting a Christmas tree on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), where protesters were gathering. However, construction had to be halted due to the events of Euromaidan.
The unfinished tree frame remained in place until August 2014 and became a symbol of the protests. It was nicknamed "Yolka" following a verbal slip by then-President Viktor Yanukovych. [During a speech, Yanukovych forgot how to say Christmas tree in Ukrainian and, after a long pause, said "yolka". "Yolka" is close to the pronunciation of the Russian word for Christmas tree – ed.]
On 5 December, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had signed a decree enforcing the National Security and Defence Council's decision to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili and 19 of his associates. Zelenskyy also urged Europe and the US to act with the same resolve.