Protesters in Georgia have taken to the streets for a fourth night in growing protests against the government’s decision. suspend Talks about joining the European Union.
Sunday’s protests added to months of tensions fueled by critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party, which some accuse of taking the country off its path toward greater integration with Europe and instead toward Russia.
The unrest ran into overdrive last week after the government announced it would freeze EU negotiations for four years. Protesters further condemned Police response – This includes the use of tear gas and water cannons – in extremes.
On Sunday, outrage was further fueled when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze rejected calls to hold new parliamentary elections.
Asked if there would be another vote, he told reporters: “Absolutely not.”
He said the formation of the new government has been completed based on the parliamentary elections to be held on October 26.
However, the opposition continues to condemn the vote. President Salome Zurabishvili, who supports joining the EU, has asked the Constitutional Court to annul the election results and declare the new legislature and government “illegitimate”.
Speaking to the AFP news agency on Saturday, Zurabishvili’s term ends this month No stepping aside Until elections are rerun.
Georgian Dream has nominated far-right ex-football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the presidency, which is largely ceremonial.
Protests spread
On Sunday, protesters again waved EU and Georgian flags in the capital Tbilisi, mainly on central Rustaveli Avenue. Some wore diving masks to protect themselves against tear gas.
But demonstrations are spreading as Georgian media reports protests in at least eight cities and towns.
In the Black Sea city of Poti, protesters blocked the access road to the country’s main commercial port, the Interpress news agency said.
Opposition TV channel Formula showed footage of people hurling eggs at the local Georgian Dream office and tearing up the party flag in Khashuri, a town of 20,000 in central Georgia.
At least 150 protesters have been arrested across the country.
Both the United States and the EU – which have expressed concern about the apparent tilt towards Russia – have expressed support for the protesters.
On Saturday, the US said it was suspending Washington’s maintained strategic partnership with Tbilisi, condemning “excessive force against Georgians exercising their freedom of protest”.
Kobakhidze dismissed the move as a “temporary event” and said he would instead focus on the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in January.
The EU’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned Georgian officials on Sunday about violence against protesters, with France, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania also expressing concern.
Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the countries of trying to “interfere in the functioning of sovereign state institutions”.
But from within the country, hundreds of public servants in government ministries issued joint statements opposing Kobakhidze’s decision to suspend EU negotiations.
More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticized the suspension, saying it was against the constitution and would lead the country to “international isolation”.
For its part, the Kremlin – which has long accused the West of fomenting revolution in former Soviet countries – did not directly comment on the protests.
However, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former presidential security officer, has said a coup attempt is underway.
Georgia is “rapidly moving down the Ukrainian path into a dark abyss,” he wrote in a telegram. Usually this kind of thing ends very badly.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia has leaned strongly towards Europe and the West. The move away from Moscow was hastened by a brief war with Russia in 2008.
Last year, it became an official candidate for EU membership and has finally been promised NATO membership.
