Around a hundred people were arrested in Georgia during the second day of demonstrations triggered by the government’s decision to postpone discussions on membership of the European Union, in the midst of a post-election crisis, the authorities announced on Saturday.
These 107 people were detained for “disobedience to police orders” and “acts of hooliganism” during the demonstration on Friday evening, the Interior Ministry said.
During this, the riot police again used tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators, who for their part threw eggs and launched fireworks, according to AFP journalists on site.
“Throughout the night (…) the demonstrators threw various objects, including stones, pyrotechnic devices, glass bottles and metal objects, at the police,” said the ministry, adding that “10 employees of the Ministry of the Interior were injured”.
Concerning Thursday’s demonstration, he reported 32 officers injured and 43 demonstrators arrested.
The Caucasus country has been in turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party declared victory in elections at the end of October. The opposition and President Salomé Zourabichvili say the vote was tainted by fraud.
The government, accused of pro-Russian authoritarian drift, triggered a new wave of mobilization on Thursday by declaring that it would postpone any integration negotiations in the European Union until 2028, a long-standing objective of the former Soviet republic. He nevertheless assures that he still intends to join the EU in 2030.
Georgia officially obtained candidate status for EU membership in December 2023, but Brussels has since frozen the process, accusing the executive of serious democratic backsliding.
– Violent dispersion –
On Friday evening, thousands of people gathered again in front of the Parliament in Tbilisi at the call of the pro-European opposition, despite the violent dispersal of the demonstration the day before.
Independent TV channel Pirveli said one of its journalists was hospitalized with serious injuries after being beaten with her cameraman by police.
Protests also took place in several other cities in Georgia on Friday, according to the Mtavari TV channel. At least eight protesters were arrested in Georgia’s second city, Batumi, according to local media.
“The resistance movement has begun. (…) I am in solidarity,” President Zourabichvili, who constitutionally has limited powers, declared in a televised speech on Friday evening. “We will remain united until Georgia achieves its goals: returning to the European path and obtaining new elections.”
This former French diplomat, elected in 2018 in her country of origin, participated in the first demonstration on Thursday.
France called on Friday for “respect for the right to peacefully demonstrate” and stressed “supporting the European aspirations” of Georgia, “which must not be betrayed”.
The Council of Europe condemned the “brutal repression of the demonstrations”, expressing alarm at the government’s decision to suspend its negotiations with the EU.
– “Suppress all dissent” –
Amnesty International denounced a desire to “suppress all dissent”.
Ukraine, which itself experienced a pro-European revolution in 2014 after the authorities at the time tried under pressure from Russia to suspend rapprochement with the EU, denounced a “use of force ” and a “limitation of democratic processes” carried out “to please Moscow”.
Contesting the results of the legislative elections at the end of October, the opposition boycotted the new Parliament and demonstrations followed one another, until now without forcing the government to bend.
Ms. Zourabichvili is demanding that the Constitutional Court annul the results, a request that is unlikely to succeed.
On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution rejecting these results, denouncing “significant irregularities”. The text demands a new election within a year under international supervision and sanctions against senior Georgian officials, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
In response, the latter, in office since February and confirmed by MEPs on Thursday, accused the European Parliament of “blackmail”.
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