Protests over the failure to identify the killer of a teenager who was stabbed in a brawl outside his school in Tbilisi are swelling in Georgia, with mass rallies in the capital for several nights running. 

The demonstrations initiated by Zaza Saralidze, the father of murdered 16-year-old David Saralidze, first targeted prosecutors, who he accused of covering up his son’s killer. But as they have grown in scale the protests have become an outpouring of anger against Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and his government, who protesters say should step down. 

According to local news site Georgia Today, the protests on May 31 and June 1 were among the largest in recent history in Georgia. Protests have also taken place in Kutaisi, the country’s new administrative capital. 

A small counter protest also took place on June 1, organised by far right nationalists, several of whom were detained by police, according to local media reports. 

“Though Kvirikashvili has said he will not resign, the recent success in neighbouring Armenia may inspire protesters to continue demonstrating. Recently, mass protests in Armenia led to the ouster of former President Serzh Sargsyan,” Stratfor analysts wrote in a note. 

Saralidze organised two rallies in April and early May, in the final days of the trial of those suspected of killing David Saralidze and another teenager Levan Dadunashvili, but large scale protests began in earnest on May 31 after the Tbilisi City Court announced its verdict but failed to say who had killed Saralidze. 

The court found two other teenagers guilty in the case, it said in a statement. One, identified only as G.B., was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Dadunashvili. Another, G.J., was found guilty of the attempted murder of Saralidze, but the court did not determine who actually killed Saralidze, who died from multiple stab wounds days after the incident. 

Zaza Saralidze demanded an open and fair investigation into the deaths. He claims that prosecutors failed to properly investigate the case because the father of one of the youths involved in the incident had worked for the Prosecutor’s Office.

Chief prosecutor Irakly Shotadze stepped down late on May 31, and openly criticised the verdict, calling it “obscure” and saying that his office had presented evidence pointing to the guilt of both the defendants. 

“The lawsuit will definitely continue and I am convinced that all offenders will be liable in full severity of the law,” he said in a statement published on the prosecutor’s website. 

Despite Shotadze’s resignation, and efforts by Kvirikashvili to address the crowd on May 31 that resulted in him being booed and shouted down, the government has not so far been able to calm the situation. 

Highlighting the seriousness of the crisis, the following day, Kvirikashvili issued a statement explaining his position, claiming that “a small group of politically motivated people” had prevented him from delivering his message directly to the protesters. 

He stressed that the investigation would be re-opened in a process led by Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, while Kvirikashvili himself “will be involved in every step and … will control the whole process.” The parliament is also opening an investigation into the case. 

As the search for a replacement for Shotadze begins, Kvirikashvili said he would ensure the process would be legitimate, with “maximum involvement of the society, all the factions of the parliament, civil society, the NGO sector, and our society as a whole”. 

However, Saralidze was not satisfied with Kvirikashvili’s attempt to reach out, and in a strongly worded Facebook post called the pledge to reopen the investigation “the government's way of trying to deceive me”. 

“The witnesses are scared and bribed. Substances are destroyed. If witnesses and evidence do not exist, there is no investigation,” he wrote. A later post on June 2 called on people to join him in Tbilisi’s central Rustavali square at 6pm. 

The bereaved father also met with President Giorgi Margvelashvili, saying after the meeting that the president had expressed his solidarity with the protesters. 

The protests come amid a turbulent spring in both Georgia and neighbouring Armenia. Earlier this month, thousands of young Georgians protested by holding a dance music party in the square outside the parliament following brutal police raids on a number of popular nightclubs on May 11. Three weeks of mass protests in Armenia in late April and early May forced the resignation of prime minister Serzh Sargsyan. He was replaced by protest leader Nikol Pashninian.