Georgia is rocked by days of violent protests. This is what you need to know

() –Days of protests have rocked Georgia following the government’s controversial decision to delay the former Soviet region’s application to join the European Union.

Tensions have been growing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of pursuing increasingly authoritarian and pro-Russia policies in a shift away from the West that tempered hopes for Georgia to follow its long-promised path to EU membership.

The protests have been met with a violent police crackdown as the ruling party and thousands of protesters are locked in a deepening battle over the country’s future and whether Georgia should forge closer ties with Russia or Europe.

This is what you need to know.

Tensions escalated in late October when the Georgian Dream claimed victory in a disputed election that was widely seen as a referendum on EU membership.

Georgia, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has sought EU membership for years, with the goal of joining the bloc outlined in its constitution.

Most Georgians support this policy, polls consistently show, and it appeared to be on track last year when the country gained EU candidate status.

But on November 28, the government signaled that it was moving away from Europe, in a decision that sparked widespread anger.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Georgia would suspend EU accession talks for four years after the European Parliament rejected the country’s election results, citing alleged irregularities.

The ruling Georgian Dream bloc accused the EU of using the prospect of accession negotiations to “blackmail” Georgia and “organize a revolution in the country.”

“We have decided not to include on the agenda the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union until the end of 2028,” the statement states. “In addition, we reject any budgetary subsidies from the European Union until the end of 2028.”

What is happening in the protests?

The government’s move brought thousands of pro-European Georgians to the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, where they demonstrated for consecutive nights despite a violent police reaction.

Reuters videos show protesters waving Georgian and EU flags and shouting “Russian slaves” at police officers guarding the parliament building. Police fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters, while men in balaclavas were seen running into the crowd and hitting people.

The protests spread beyond the capital, with Georgian media reporting demonstrations in at least eight cities and towns, according to Reuters.

Opposition television channel Formula showed images of people in the central city of Khashuri throwing eggs at the local office of the Georgian Dream party and tearing down the organization’s flag. Protesters also blocked an access road to the country’s main commercial port in the Black Sea city of Poti, according to the Georgian news agency Interpress.

According to Georgian authorities, more than 100 people have been arrested and protesters have thrown stones and glass bottles at law enforcement. In addition, dozens of people have been hospitalized.

Residents highlighted the forcefulness of the police response, which has been widely condemned internationally.

“I’ve seen a lot of protests in Georgia: during this government, the previous government; I also remember some from Soviet times,” Tsotne Jafaridze, a Tbilisi winemaker, told . “But such aggression, towards older people, towards very young boys, towards women, was incredible.”

Salomé Zourabichvili, the country’s pro-Western president, whose powers are largely ceremonial, said police were “targeting journalists and political leaders.”

He condemned what he called “brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media, reminiscent of Russian-style repression” on the protests.

Nearly 80% of Georgians support European integration, according to a poll conducted in December last year by the US non-profit National Democratic Institute.

Many Georgians also feel deep hostility toward Russia, which invaded Georgia in 2008 and today occupies about 20% of its internationally recognized territories.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, thousands of Russians, especially men of military age, have fled to Georgia to avoid conscription, tearing at the country’s social fabric as many Georgians express fears of progressive Russification.

The Georgian Dream movement, founded by a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, has adopted a marked authoritarian tone in recent years. Earlier this year he pushed through a new Russian-style “foreign agents” law that allows the government to clamp down on watchdogs, alarming the EU, the United States and his political opponents in Georgia.

Experts warned that the suspension of talks with the EU is another sign that the country is following an undemocratic path under the Georgian Dream.

“This is a warning sign. It shows that the government is willing to go much further on this issue,” Ketevan Chachava, non-resident researcher at the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told .

He said he fears that Georgia is “becoming an undemocratic state, without freedom, where freedoms are not respected.”

The United States and the EU criticized what they consider growing authoritarianism in Georgia and the aggressive response of the Police to the protesters.

The US State Department condemned “excessive use of force by police against Georgians” and said it was suspending the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership due to “undemocratic actions” by the ruling party.

“We reiterate our call on the Georgian government to return to its Euro-Atlantic path, transparently investigate all irregularities in the parliamentary elections and repeal undemocratic laws that limit freedoms of assembly and expression,” spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc supports “the Georgian people and their choice of a European future,” in a social media post.

“We condemn the violence against protesters and regret the ruling party’s signs of not following Georgia’s path towards the EU and the country’s democratic retreat,” he said. “This will have direct consequences from the EU.”

Prime Minister Kobakhidze dismissed American criticism and said the police had “successfully protected the state from another attempt to violate the constitutional order,” according to Reuters.

Georgian Dream has also denied having ties to Russia.

Kobakhidze has insisted that the party remains committed to Georgia’s EU candidacy and is only responding to “blackmail and manipulation” by EU politicians.

But the West has become skeptical of the party’s intentions.

So have hundreds of Georgian diplomats and officials, who have signed open letters calling the delay in talks with the EU illegal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet commented on the situation in Georgia.

But Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president prone to hyperbole and currently a member of the Russian Security Council, described the events in Georgia as an attempted revolution and warned on Telegram that the country was “moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, toward the dark abyss. “Usually these kinds of things end very badly.”

‘s Christian Edwards and Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.