The world has adapted its ways to slow COVID-19 spread. Hugs and kisses when meeting someone in the streets are a thing of the past for most people, if not all. The virus has changed the way education, fun, and social life work. Now, instead of meeting up with friends in a cafe, people turn their devices on and call over video.
With the restrictions came the closing of shops, restaurants, malls, and a curfew. Most say that it is justified, but there are protests amongst the Georgian population, who disagree. For the past few weeks, the front of Parliament and Rustaveli street has been crowded with protests demanding to remove or at least relax the COVID19 regulations. One of the forms of protest has been staying out after 9 PM, which is the mandated curfew for all of Georgia right now. The protesters have been staying in the Deda Ena Park. As of now, fifty-one people have been identified and nineteen have pending allegations against them.
The government has taken action and eased the regulations. Public transportation, which was intended to restore on March 1st, opened on the eighth of February. From the fifteenth of February, schools and restaurants will open. Notably, restaurants will only be able to serve outside. This makes it harder for most of them to work, as they don’t have any outdoor sitting area. However, shopping malls, restaurants, and even the public transportation everyone was looking forward to so much are all closed on the weekends. Restaurants have to close at 7 PM ( because of the curfew at 9 PM) and don’t work on weekends.
The protest has continued - a member of the movement “Sircxvilia”, Giga Maqarashvili, has said that these regulation lifts aren’t enough. He has also stated that the unreasonable regulations have to be fully lifted, as they’re destroying the country’s economy.
Many people say that these protests are pointless, full of selfish individuals that miss having fun and don’t care about others. That they should just be quiet and wait for the pandemic to ease over In their opinion, people who attend these protests should stop making it even harder for the regulations to lift by being in large crowds.
I think it is a privilege to sit at home and not worry about being homeless, not having food, or freezing in the merciless weather without heating. People who worked minimum wage that already could barely get by, have been in an even worse situation during the pandemic. For some, public transportation was the only way to get to their jobs and it’s harder to find alternatives since most of these people cannot afford to use private cars or taxis. They have a right to be mad. They should be mad, as the crippling economy is damaging their living conditions. People who criticize others that want to lift some restrictions fail to realize their class privilege.
It is, of course, important to look after the health of citizens and do whatever you can to slow the virus spread, but it’s also important for people to have stable housing and bare necessities to live.
Edited by Liza Jariashvili
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