Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

Different parts of the city, they're all converging here.

It's quite a spectacular moment, I would say,

because everyone is using their phone torches.

George's National Anth anthem is being played.

And people feel the support of each other.

And they're happy to see that so many others have joined the protest today.

The country's national anthem transitions into Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the anthem of the European Union. For this is a country which has the aspiration to join the EU written into its constitution.

We're in Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people,

sandwiched between its giant neighbor Russia to the north and east,

Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey to the south,

and the Black Sea to the west.

Anti-government protests have been taking place daily for almost four months, sparked by a

disputed parliamentary election, which was criticized by local and international observers.

Citing, among other things, voter intimidation and the alleged manipulation of electronic voting machines.

Then, last November, the governing Georgian Dream Party announced it was suspending further talks with the European Union on future membership.

That brought tens of thousands to the streets,

like these demonstrators outside Parliament.

It's not our government, because elections was stolen from us, so it's not our government.

We want to be free. We want to be Europeans. We are Europeans. We don't want Russian government. We don't want Russia. So this is our thing to do.

So a lot of our friends, I know a lot of the people that we love are getting repressed. And the

country is taking the wrong direction. We want to be part of the people that we love are getting repressed, and the country is taking the wrong direction.

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