Georgian riot police yesterday deployed tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators protesting a government decision to delay pursuing EU accession.
Thousands rallied in the capital, Tbilisi, and cities across the nation after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the decision amid a post-election crisis that saw the president challenge the legitimacy of the newly elected parliament and government.
Waving EU and Georgian flags, thousands rallied outside parliament, blocking traffic on the Georgian capital’s main road in the latest of a series of protests.
Photo: AFP
Shortly after midnight, riot police deployed tear gas and water cannon against the peaceful demonstrators.
The crackdown continued into the early hours, with masked police firing rubber bullets, and brutally beating protesters and journalists.
Demonstrators erected barricades and set them on fire, while local media reported several protesters and journalists were arrested.
“I stand with the Georgian media, who are disproportionately targeted and attacked while doing their job and reporting continuously,” Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said on social media.
The prime minister’s announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution rejecting the results of Georgia’s Oct. 26 parliamentary elections, alleging “significant irregularities.”
The resolution called for new elections within a year under international supervision and for sanctions to be imposed on top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.
Accusing the European Parliament and “some European politicians” of “blackmail,” Kobakhidze said: “We have decided not to bring up the issue of joining the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028,” but he pledged to continue implementing reforms, asserting that “by 2028, Georgia will be more prepared than any other candidate country to open accession talks with Brussels and become a member state in 2030.”
The nation officially gained EU candidate status in December last year, but Brussels has frozen Georgia’s accession process until Tbilisi takes concrete steps to address what it calls democratic backsliding.
Opposition lawmakers are boycotting the new parliament, alleging fraud in the October elections, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party gained a new majority.
Zurabishvili — at loggerheads with Georgian Dream — has declared the ballot “unconstitutional” and is seeking to annul the election results through the Constitutional Court.
Following Kobakhidze’s statement, street protests erupted in Tbilisi and several other cities.
“Georgian Dream didn’t win the elections, it staged a coup. There is no legitimate parliament or government in Georgia,” 20-year-old demonstrator Shota Sabashvili said. “We will not let this self-proclaimed prime minister destroy our European future.”
The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that “protesters physically confronted police” in Tbilisi, “resulting in injuries to three officers, two of whom have been hospitalized.”
“To de-escalate the situation, the police have employed measures permitted by law, including the use of special means,” it said of the use of tear gas.
Zurabishvili held an “emergency meeting” with foreign diplomats, her office said.
“Today marks a significant point, or rather, the conclusion of the constitutional coup that has been unfolding for several weeks,” she told a news conference alongside opposition leaders.
“Today, this non-existent and illegitimate government declared war on its own people,” Zurabishvili added, calling herself the nation’s “sole legitimate representative.”
About 90 Georgian diplomats issued a joint statement protesting Kobakhidze’s announcement.
They said the decision “doesn’t align with the country’s strategic interests,” contradicts the constitution and “would lead Georgia into international isolation.”
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