TBILISI (AP) – More than 200 people have been detained after four nights of protests in the Georgian capital following the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union (EU) after the block lambasted the country’s parliamentary election.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the country’s October 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked mass demonstrations, with the opposition boycotting the Parliament.
The opposition and the country’s pro-Western president also accused the vote of being rigged.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Parliament for the fourth night on Sunday. Some protesters threw fireworks at police who responded by deploying tear gas and water cannon.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said yesterday that 224 protesters were detained on administrative charges and three arrested on criminal charges. So far, 113 police officers needed medical treatment while three others were hospitalised.
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said that many of the arrested protesters had injuries to their heads and faces, including broken bones and eye sockets. Writing on X and citing lawyers who represent the detained, she said some people were subject to systematic beatings between arrest and transportation to detention facilities.
Zourabichvili holds a largely ceremonial role and is due to step down at the end of the year.
She has indicated she will remain in her post until another president is chosen by a “legtimate” Parliament.
Zourabichvili has accused the ruling party of using extreme methods to crack down on freedom of speech and to rig the election.
“All the signs are of an attempt to carry out an Orange Revolution,” he said. Ahead of Sunday’s protest, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of Georgian Dream warned that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigour of the law”.
“Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility,” he said at a briefing.
He insisted it wasn’t true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration.”
The government’s announcement to suspend the EU membership process came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising October’s election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze also dismissed the United States (US) State Department’s statement on Saturday which announced the suspension of its strategic relationship with Georgia and condemned the decision to halt its efforts toward EU accession. “You can see that the outgoing (US) administration is trying to leave the new administration with as difficult a legacy as possible. They are doing this regarding Ukraine, and now also concerning Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. “This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them.” Kobakhidze also confirmed that Georgia’s ambassador to the US David Zalkaliani, had become the latest of a number of diplomats to stand down since the protests started.
President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke to President Zourabichvili on Sunday to condemn the violence against protesters and to note that “the actions of the government run counter to the will of the people,” Costa wrote on X. Also on Sunday, Kallas and EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement.
“We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia,” the statement said.
