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Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Georgia for the country's future accession to the EU.
The participants criticize their government for not trying hard enough to become a member of the European Union.
Georgia borders on southern Russia.
The protests erupted after the EU Commission last Friday issued a recommendation for Ukraine and its neighboring country Moldova to join the EU, while Georgia was only given the prospect of membership.
All three countries had applied to join the EU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mziko Gomrui, protester
"The EU stands for peace, for justice, and I can't help but stand here."
Mariam Koshadze, demonstrator
"We want freedom, we want better education, we want to have the opportunity to get everything that other young people in Europe also have."
Anton Kokaia, protester
"This is a moment when we can finally get out of this Russian sphere of influence and be able to protect our sovereignty and our independence, in Europe."
Democratic and rule-of-law reforms are a prerequisite for EU accession – these are progressing too slowly for the demonstrators in Tbilisi.
So far, Georgia has not managed to completely oust authoritarian tendencies, corruption and nepotism.
Many see Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili as the main problem.
Sergi Kapanadze, Georgian political scientist
“This government and this country are led by an oligarch, Mr. Ivanishvili, whose fortune accounts for about a third of the country's gross domestic product.
And so it is no coincidence that the European Commission mentions the word 'de-oligarchization'.
I think that's why.
Because this person wants to hold on to power and keep it, no matter the cost.
He wants to defeat free media, he wants to crack down on the opposition and arrest them, and none of that is European.«
Georgia has a conflicted past with Russia.
During the 2008 Caucasus War, Russian troops invaded Georgia with the aim of annexing the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
A ceasefire was reached after five days, and 850 people were killed in the conflict.
Only at the end of May did the separatist region of South Ossetia cancel a planned referendum on Russia's accession.
Georgia is firmly opposed to the region joining Russia.
