– I had thoughts that all this was heading toward a bad scenario, but I couldn’t have imagined this… That a teacher and four students from the conservatory—one of them from the Tbilisi State Conservatory—would be arrested. And just a few days ago, right here on this same street, the horror that happened—how a journalist and a cameraman were attacked… what they did, right here on this same street—beatings… Our colleague Giorgi Makharadze and the others—none of them have been arrested, no one has been detained, and these students—they’ve been placed in pretrial detention. How could I have imagined this? This is tyranny—what else can it be?
Actually, it’s worse than tyranny, it’s lawlessness. It’s rampant impunity—what else can you call it? The way out lies in our consistent protest, in strikes… We have to use every legal mechanism at our disposal. Everything that has been avoided or ignored until now must be activated — Because how is this acceptable? The prisons are full of young people, and officials are practically lounging in the streets — Just like in Azdak’s Song…