Thousands of Georgians gathered again on Friday November 29 in the center of Tbilisi, at the call of the pro-European opposition. The demonstration follows the arrest, the day before, of around forty demonstrators opposed to the government, accused of pro-Russian authoritarian drift.
This Caucasian country has been in turmoil since the legislative elections of October 26, won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, but denounced as tainted by irregularities by the opposition, international observers and the president, Salomé Zourabichvili.
The Georgian Dream and the government that emerged from it are accused by their detractors of diverting this former Soviet republic from its declared ambition to join the European Union and, on the contrary, of wanting to bring Tbilisi closer to Moscow. Some Georgians consider Russia, which invaded in 2008, as a threat and the West as a bulwark.
Georgia officially obtained candidate status for EU membership in December 2023, but Brussels has since frozen the process, accusing the government of serious democratic backsliding. If the authorities still assure that they intend to join the EU in 2030, they announced Thursday evening to postpone the question until the end of 2028.
Despite a heavy police presence, several thousand people gathered in front of the Parliament building on Friday, blocking traffic on the capital's main avenue. “The self-proclaimed Georgian Dream government is doing everything it can to destroy Georgia's chances of joining the European Union”a demonstrator, Laura Kekelidze, a 39-year-old teacher, told AFP.
The move led thousands of pro-EU opposition supporters to take to the streets in protest, gathering in the capital Tbilisi and other cities overnight. On Thursday evening and Friday morning, riot police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and water cannons, hitting demonstrators and journalists in front of Parliament, an AFP journalist noted. According to the Ministry of the Interior, “43 people were arrested” during the night from Thursday to Friday. According to him, 32 police officers were injured “following the illegal and violent actions of the demonstrators”.
