Riot police detained a demonstrator during a protest against the new government’s decision to suspend EU accession negotiations and reject budget allocations until 2028, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on December 1, 2024.
Irakli Gardens | Reuters
Protests broke out in Georgia’s capital for a third night over the government’s decision to suspend EU membership talks, leaving 44 people hospitalized, officials said on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside parliament on Saturday night, throwing rocks and setting off fireworks, while police used water cannon and tear gas. An effigy of the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a mysterious billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, was burned in front of the legislature.
Georgia’s Interior Department said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police officers and one media worker were hospitalized.
Iraqi Prime Minister Kobashidze warned that “any illegal behavior will be severely punished by the law.”
“Politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of violent groups in exchange for severe punishment will not escape responsibility,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
He insisted that it was not true that Georgia’s European integration process had stalled. “The only thing we reject is shameful and offensive blackmail, which is actually a major obstacle to our country’s integration into Europe.” Just hours before the government’s announcement, the European Parliament passed a resolution criticizing Georgia’s last The general election last month was neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze also refuted the U.S. State Department’s statement on Saturday about suspending strategic partnership with Georgia. The statement condemned Georgia’s decision to halt its efforts to join the European Union.
“You can see that the outgoing government is trying to leave a legacy as difficult as possible for the new government. They did it with Ukraine and now they are doing it with Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. “This is not There will be no fundamental meaning. We will wait for the new government to come into power and discuss everything with them.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Karas and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos issued a joint statement on Sunday on the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations.
“We note that this announcement marks a shift in the policies of successive Georgian governments and in the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Georgian constitution,” the statement read.
The statement reiterated the EU’s “serious concern about the country’s continued democratic backsliding” and urged the Georgian authorities to “respect the rights to freedom of assembly and expression and not to use force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives.”
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s controversial victory in parliamentary elections on October 26, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s desire to join the European Union, triggered mass demonstrations and led the opposition to boycott parliament.
The opposition said the vote was held with help from Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, and that Moscow wanted to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Georgia’s pro-Western president Salome Zurabichvili said in an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday that Georgia was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state with Georgian dreams of controlling key institutions.
“We are not asking for a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but only to ensure that the will of the people is not perverted or stolen again,” Zurabichvili said.
The EU granted Georgia candidacy status in December 2023 on the condition that Georgia complied with EU recommendations, but suspended it after passing a “foreign influence” law earlier this year that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. Joined and cut financial support.
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