Georgian authorities on Friday terminated water cannon and tear gas on demonstrators, as thousands required to the roads momentarily day to object the federal government postponing EU subscription talks.
The Black Sea country has actually been shaken by chaos given that the judgment Georgian Dream celebration proclaimed success in October legislative political elections that the pro-EU resistance decried as falsified.
In an aired address to the country, pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili– at loggerheads with the ruling celebration– stated: “The resistance movement has begun… I stand in solidarity with it.
“We will certainly stay united up until Georgia attains its objectives: to go back to its European course, safeguard brand-new political elections.”
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement Thursday that Georgia will not seek to open accession talks with the European Union until 2028 ignited a furious reaction from the opposition and two days of protests.
On Friday, AFP reporters saw riot police fire water cannon and tear gas at pro-EU protesters gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi who tossed eggs and fireworks.
Clashes broke out later between protesters and police, who moved in to clear the area outside parliament, beating demonstrators, some of whom threw objects.
Independent TV station Pirveli said one of its journalists covering the protest was hospitalised with serious injuries after police beat her and a cameraman.
The interior ministry said two of its employees had been injured as ” activists vocally and literally attacked law enforcement agent, tossing numerous things and pyrotechnics in their instructions”.
“To de-escalate the circumstance, police policemans have actually made use of unique steps recommended by legislation,” it said.
AFP reporters saw a small fire on the street at the scene of the protest and two Molotov cocktails being thrown.
– ‘Authoritarian’ –
In power for more than a decade, critics accuse Georgian Dream in recent years of having moved the country away from Europe and closer to Russia.
Ahead of October’s elections, it pushed through legislation targeting independent civil society and curbing LGBTQ rights, drawing warnings from Brussels.
“Georgian Dream’s self-proclaimed federal government is doing whatever it can to damage Georgia’s possibilities of signing up with the EU,” said one demonstrator, 39-year-old schoolteacher Laura Kekelidze.
“They understand their tyrannical guideline is inappropriate with EU subscription,” she told AFP. “But Georgians belong in Europe, which’s why we are out right here in the roads today.”
The former Soviet republic officially gained EU candidate status in December 2023. Polls say 80 percent of the population backs joining the bloc.
But earlier this year, Brussels froze Georgia’s accession process, citing democratic backsliding.
Opposition lawmakers have questioned the results of last month’s parliamentary elections, which gave Georgian Dream a majority.
They are boycotting the new parliament, while President Zurabishvili has sought to annul the election results through the country’s constitutional court.
– ‘Punitive attack’ –
Protests were also held in other cities across Georgia on Friday, independent TV station Mtavari reported.
At least four demonstrators were arrested in Georgia’s second-largest city, Batumi, local media reported.
On Thursday, an AFP reporter saw riot police beating peaceful protesters and journalists at the demonstration.
Police said 32 officers had been wounded then and 43 protestors detained ” for disobeying legal authorities orders and for minor hooliganism”.
European nations and rights groups on Friday expressed concern over the situation.
“Police activities in Tbilisi mark one more punishing strike on the right to relaxed setting up,” Amnesty International said.
France, Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania were among the countries to voice concern.
The Council of Europe condemned what it called the ” ruthless suppression”, urging Georgia to remain ” faithful to European worths”.
Prime Minister Kobakhidze accused the opposition and the EU ambassador to Georgia of distorting his words, and insisted membership in the bloc ” by 2030″ remains his ” leading concern.”
Georgian Dream MPs elected all Thursday for Kobakhidze to proceed as head of state, also as the resistance boycotts parliament, which encounters a significant authenticity situation.
One writer of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, informed AFP that any kind of choices made by the brand-new parliament– consisting of Kobakhidze’s election– are void, since it accepted its very own qualifications in offense of a lawful need to wait for a court judgment on Zurabishvili’s proposal to annul the political election results.
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