Georgia: Police try to disperse thousands of pro-EU demonstrators

For the second evening in a row, Georgian riot police used tear gas and water cannons on Friday against thousands of demonstrators in Tbilisi after the government’s decision to suspend integration negotiations with the European Union.

The Caucasus country has been in turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party declared victory in elections at the end of October, which the opposition and President Salome Zourabichvili say were tainted by fraud.

This former French diplomat elected in 2018 in her country of origin, who came into conflict with the ruling party, was in the demonstration the day before and said on Friday evening she was “in solidarity” with the “resistance movement”.

The arrest of around forty demonstrators the previous night

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.

Thousands of people gathered again Friday evening in front of Parliament in the center of the capital at the call of the pro-European opposition, after the arrest of around forty demonstrators the previous night following a violent dispersal of the demonstration.

But 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.

“The resistance movement has begun”

Independent TV channel Pirveli said one of its journalists was hospitalized with serious injuries after being beaten with her cameraman by police.

The Ministry of the Interior for its part affirmed that two of its men had been injured and that “the measures provided for by law had been taken to calm the situation”.

AFP journalists saw a fire lit in the street, and two molotov cocktails thrown.

“The resistance movement has begun. […] I am in solidarity,” declared President Salomé Zourabichvili, who constitutionally has limited powers, in a televised speech. “We will remain united until Georgia achieves its goals: returning to the European path and obtaining new elections,” she added.

“Destroying Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union”

France, for its part, 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 self-proclaimed Georgian Dream government is doing everything it can to destroy Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union,” protester Laura Kekelidze, a 39-year-old teacher, told AFP on Friday.

“They know that their authoritarian rule is incompatible with EU membership,” she said. But Georgians are part of Europe, and that is why we are on the streets today.”

Demonstrations also took place in several cities in Georgia on Friday, according to the Mtavari television channel.

Bringing Tbilisi closer to Moscow

The Georgian Dream and the government that emerged from it are accused by their detractors of diverting this former Soviet republic from its ambition to join the European Union and, on the contrary, of wanting to bring Tbilisi closer to Moscow.

Georgia officially obtained candidate status for 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.

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. Opposite, the demonstrators had erected barricades which they set on fire.

“Brutal repression of demonstrations”

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 “as a result of the illegal and violent actions of the demonstrators”. The opposition is boycotting the new Parliament and demonstrations follow one another, so far without forcing the government to bend.

Salomé Zourabichvili demands that the Constitutional Court annul the results of the legislative elections, a request which has little chance of succeeding.

The Council of Europe condemned the “brutal repression of demonstrations” in Tbilisi, also expressing alarm at the decision of the Georgian government to suspend its negotiations with the EU. Amnesty International denounced a desire to “suppress all dissent through the illegal use of police force”.

Ukraine, which itself experienced a pro-European revolution in 2014 after the authorities at the time tried under pressure from Moscow to suspend rapprochement with the EU, denounced a “use of force” and a “limitation of democratic processes” carried out according to her “to please Moscow”.

“Significant irregularities”

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution rejecting the results of the legislative elections in Georgia, denouncing “significant irregularities”.

The text demands that a new election be organized within a year under international supervision and that sanctions be taken against senior Georgian officials, including Irakli Kobakhidze.

In response, the latter, in office since February and confirmed Thursday by MEPs, accused the European Parliament of “blackmail”.

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