(AP) — Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday in a third consecutive night of protests against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union (EU) for a fourth year.
More than 100 protesters They were detained as crowds clashed with police on Friday night, Georgia’s Interior Ministry said. The Associated Press news agency saw protesters in the capital Tbilisi being chased and beaten by police as they demonstrated in front of the country’s Parliament building.
That same night, police also used excessive force against members of the media and deployed water cannon to push protesters along the capital’s central avenue, Rustaveli Avenue.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by protests since thursdaywhen the ruling Georgian Dream party announced it would suspend accession talks with the EU until 2028.
The disputed victory of the Georgian Dream party in the country’s October 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union, has caused large demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott. to Parliament.
The opposition said the election was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Speaking to the AP on Saturday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said the country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that the Georgian Dream controlled the main institutions of the nation that was once part of the USSR.
“We have seen what is happening in the country, which is a country where we no longer have independent institutions, neither the courts, nor the Central Bank nor of course the Parliament,” he said. “We have been moving more and more rapidly toward a quasi-Russian model.”
Zourabichvili also rejected statements made by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who characterized the protests as “violent demonstrations.” In a statement on Saturday, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi remained committed to European integration. However, he commented that unspecified “foreign” entities wanted to see the “Ukrainization” of Georgia with a “Maidan-style scenario,” a reference to the Maidan revolution in Ukraine in 2014.
“We are not demanding a revolution. “We are calling for new elections, but under conditions that ensure that the will of the people is not misinterpreted or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said. “Georgia has always resisted Russian influence and will not accept being robbed of its vote and its destiny.”
The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning last month’s elections as neither free nor fair. He said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”
European election observers said the October vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by cases of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it complied with the bloc’s recommendations, but suspended its membership and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law seen widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
EU lawmakers urged a repeat of the parliamentary election within a year under thorough international supervision and by an independent electoral administration. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.
Georgia’s prime minister responded, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-intentioned in our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is “a great disgrace for the European Union.”
Kobakhidze also said that Georgia would reject any EU budget subsidies until the end of 2028.
Critics have accused the ruling Georgian Dream party, established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, an enigmatic billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed for laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to suppress free speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
–With reporting from ‘s Christian Edwards and Catherine Nicholls.
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