With water cannons and tear gas, the police moved again in Tbilisi, in order to disperse them for the fifth consecutive night in its capital, to denounce the decision of the authorities to 2028, a goal that is nevertheless registered in its Constitution of the former Soviet republic.
Demonstrators held Georgian and European Union flags in front of parliament, which is at the heart of the country’s protest movement, with rallies in recent days marred by clashes between heavy security forces and pro-EU citizens responding to a police crackdown. , launching fireworks.
Georgians up in arms against the Government’s decision to freeze EU accession negotiations until 2028
— MJ Guerola (@guerola2014)
Over 200 arrests
More than 200 people have been arrested during the first four nights of protests against the government’s decision to suspend accession negotiations.
The disputed victory of “Georgian Dream”, in power since 2012, in the country’s Oct. 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s ambitions to join the EU, has sparked mass protests and a boycott of opposition in parliament. The opposition and the country’s pro-Western president have accused the ruling party of rigging the election with the help of Moscow.
Georgia’s interior ministry announced Monday that 224 protesters were arrested on administrative charges and three were arrested on criminal charges.
Dozens of protesters, journalists and police have been injured during clashes on the sidelines of these rallies, although there is no exact number.
According to the same source, so far, 113 police officers have needed medical treatment, while three others have been hospitalized after clashes with protesters, who threw fireworks at the police.
During last night’s incidents, however, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, 26 people were injured, most of them protesters. Rescuers “transported 26 people to medical facilities,” 23 of whom were protesters and three police officers, the ministry said in a statement.
Some protesters fled to a church in the main square to escape the police. The same scenario had unfolded during previous demonstrations.
“Strikes on the road to the detention center”
Georgian President Salome Zourabisvili said many of the arrested protesters had head and face injuries, broken bones and bruises from blows around the eyes. Writing in X and citing lawyers representing the detainees, she said some people are subjected to systematic beatings between their arrest and their transfer to detention centres.
majority of the arrested protesters have injuries to their heads and faces , broken face bones, eye sockets, open wounds. Have been subjected to systematic beatings between arrest and transport to already overcrowded detention facilities. As reported by lawyers
— Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S)
Zurabishvili, who plays a largely ceremonial role, has rejected the official election results and refused to recognize the parliament’s legitimacy. She has said she will stay on even after her six-year term ends later this month to lead calls for new parliamentary elections.
European Council President Antonio Costa and foreign policy chief Kaya Callas spoke in Zourabishvili on Sunday to condemn violence against protesters and note that “the government’s actions are against the will of the people,” Costa wrote. in X.
Callas and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos also issued a joint statement, reiterating the EU’s “serious concerns about the country’s continued democratic backsliding” and calling on the Georgian authorities to “respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression and to refrain from the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators, politicians and representatives of the media”.
“No revolution, we will take every measure”
The pro-European protests that have rocked the Caucasus country for days are being funded “from abroad”, Prime Minister Irakli Kombakhitze claimed on Monday and insisted there would be no “revolution” in Georgia, warning the opposition that “any violation of the law will be dealt with” with absolute strictness of the law”.
“These efforts are financed from abroad and the funding is not transparent,” Kobakhitze, who hails from the “Georgian Dream” party accused by his critics of authoritarian and pro-Russian deviations, charged during a press conference.
“I remind everyone that there will be no revolution in Georgia, whether it is transparent or not,” he declared and added meaningfully: “Not even those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment will escape from the responsibility”.
The Prime Minister also assured that his government remains committed to the goal of European integration and will make the “maximum effort” to join the European Union, claiming that “the only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive extortion.”
Despite the large mobilization that is rocking the country, Irakli Kombahicze has also stated that he will not “negotiate” with the opposition.
The chronicle of the political crisis
The government’s announcement of the suspension of EU accession talks came hours after the European Parliament passed a resolution criticizing Georgia’s October elections as neither free nor fair.
The EU granted Georgia candidate country status in December 2023 on the condition that it fulfills the bloc’s recommendations, but suspended its membership and reduced financial support earlier this year after it passed a law on “foreign influence ” which is widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
The “Georgian Dream” is adopting increasingly repressive laws that mirror those in Russia, which crack down on free speech and restrict LGBTI+ rights. A law banning same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and the public endorsement and depiction of LGBTI+ relationships in the media came into force on Monday.
Speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday, Zurabishvili said her country is turning into a “quasi-Russian” state and that the “Georgian Dream” controls major institutions. “We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be falsified or stolen again,” said Zourabishvili.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed there were parallels between the protests in Georgia and the mass protests in Ukraine that led to the overthrow of a pro-Moscow leader in 2014. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he accused outside powers of trying to “ destabilize the situation’ and insisted that Russia is not interfering in Georgia.
Baltic states seek sanctions against Georgian officials
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are pressing the European Commission to recommend sanctions against some Georgian government officials for overseeing a violent police crackdown on protesters in Tbilisi, EU diplomats said.
Specifically, the three Baltic countries jointly imposed sanctions against 11 high-ranking officials and want the EU to follow suit.
Among the officials against whom the measures were imposed are Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, the interior minister and his deputies.
Information from AP
