Teenagers, parents, footballers, politicians and even the president have taken to the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia every night to express their objection to the October parliamentary elections and the Georgian government’s recent announcement it was suspending the country’s European Union accession. Old folks are out there too.

In one video, young men kindly surround a “babushka” to prevent her from getting pummeled by water cannons. Black-clad “robo cops” without any identifying insignia are brutally attacking peaceful protesters, kicking their heads in when they are already on the ground and unconscious.

These security forces have a particular appetite for journalists, such that several of my friends are in the hospital with broken noses and concussions.

I moved to Georgia in 2014, at a time when democracy was having a moment. There had been a peaceful transfer of power from Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime to the Georgian Dream coalition. Democratic reforms were being implemented. The country established a ministry dedicated to integration into the EU and NATO. It was a safe haven for democratic activists from autocratic regimes.

Now it has itself become an autocracy.

Democracy was always Georgia’s primary asset. The West’s relationship with the country was forged on shared values, not oil or trade. Without democracy, Georgia's partnership is of limited value. It is time for the U.S. and EU to dispense with the "concerned" embassy statements and lay down some consequences.

The first whiffs of democratic decline came not too long after I moved there.........

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