Demonstrators use firecrackers towards police throughout a rally towards the federal government’s resolution to droop negotiations on becoming a member of the European Union for 4 years, outdoors the parliament’s constructing in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024.
Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP/AP
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Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP/AP
TBILISI, Georgia — Protesters gathered throughout Georgia on Saturday evening in a 3rd straight evening of demonstrations towards the federal government’s resolution to droop negotiations to affix the European Union.
Greater than 100 demonstrators have been arrested as crowds clashed with police Friday evening, the nation’s Inside Ministry stated. The Related Press noticed protesters in Tbilisi being chased and crushed by police as demonstrators rallied in entrance of the nation’s parliament constructing.
On the identical evening, police additionally used heavy pressure towards members of the media and deployed water cannons to push protesters again alongside the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.
The ruling Georgian Dream celebration’s disputed victory within the nation’s Oct. 26 parliamentary election, which was extensively seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to affix the European Union, has sparked main demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of the parliament.
The opposition has stated that the vote was rigged with the assistance of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial grasp, with Moscow hoping to maintain Tbilisi in its orbit.
Chatting with the AP on Saturday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili stated that Georgia was turning into a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream managed the nation’s main establishments.
“We have seen happening in the country — which is a country where we do not have any longer independent institutions, not the courts, not the Central Bank, and not, of course, the parliament,” she stated. “We have been moving more and more rapidly into a quasi-Russian model.”
Demonstrators stand in entrance of police throughout a rally outdoors the parliament’s constructing to protest the federal government’s resolution to droop negotiations on becoming a member of the European Union for 4 years in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.
Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP/AP
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Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP/AP
Zourabichvili additionally rejected statements made by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who characterised the protests as “violent demonstrations.” In a press release on Saturday, he stated Tbilisi remained dedicated to European integration. Nonetheless, he stated that unspecified “foreign entities” wished to see the “Ukrainization” of Georgia with a “Maidan-style scenario” – a reference to Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan revolution.
“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 misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili stated. “Georgia has been always resisting Russian influence and will not accept having its vote stolen and its destiny stolen.”
The federal government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to affix the EU got here hours after the European Parliament adopted a decision that condemned final month’s vote as neither free nor honest. It stated the election represented one other manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”
European election observers stated October’s vote befell in a divisive ambiance marked by cases of bribery, double voting and bodily violence.
The EU granted Georgia candidate standing in December 2023 provided that it meet the bloc’s suggestions, however put its accession on maintain and lower monetary help earlier this yr after the passage of a “foreign influence” regulation extensively seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
EU lawmakers urged a rerun of the parliamentary vote inside a yr below thorough worldwide supervision and by an unbiased election administration. Additionally they referred to as on the EU to impose sanctions and restrict formal contacts with the Georgian authorities.
The Georgian prime minister fired again, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of 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 additionally stated Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU till the top of 2028.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of turning into more and more authoritarian and tilted towards Moscow. The celebration lately pushed by legal guidelines just like these utilized by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
