More than a hundred people were arrested in Georgia, on the second day of demonstrations provoked by the government’s decision to postpone discussions on membership in the European Union, in the midst of a post-election crisis, the authorities announced this Saturday, November 30. .
This former Soviet republic in the Caucasus has been in crisis since the October 26 legislative elections won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, accused of pro-Russian authoritarian drift. These elections are marked by irregularities on the part of the pro-European opposition that is boycotting the new Parliament.
43 protesters arrested the day before
Nighttime demonstrations brought together several thousand people on Thursday and Friday night in Tbilisi to protest against the authorities’ decision to postpone the country’s EU accession talks until 2028. Both rallies were forcibly dispersed by the police.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 107 people were arrested on Friday for “disobedience to police” and “hooliganism” and 10 police officers were injured. The day before, 43 protesters were arrested and 32 police officers injured, according to the same source. During the demonstration on Friday afternoon, riot police again used tear gas and water cannon against protesters, who in turn threw eggs and set off fireworks, AFP journalists noted.
“Throughout the night, protesters threw various objects at the police, including stones, fireworks, glass bottles and metal objects,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Officials, diplomats, universities…
Calls for a new meeting on Saturday night are circulating on social networks. Protests also occurred in several other cities in Georgia. At least eight protesters were arrested in Georgia’s second city, Batumi, according to local media.
“I express my gratitude to the Minister of the Interior and all police officers who yesterday defended Georgia’s constitutional order and safeguarded the sovereignty and independence of the nation,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said during a press conference on Saturday.
Georgia’s investigative service, however, announced that it had opened an investigation into “allegations of abuse of authority through violence by the police against protesters and media representatives.”
The independent television channel Pirveli said one of its journalists was hospitalized with serious injuries after being beaten by police along with her cameraman.
The movement also began to spread beyond the streets. Hundreds of officials, including the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Education, as well as judges, issued joint statements of protest.
Some 160 Georgian diplomats criticized the government’s decision to postpone the European integration process, saying it was contrary to the Constitution and led to the “international isolation” of the country. More than a hundred schools and universities suspended their activities in protest.
“Resistance movement”
Despite its decision, the government says it wants to continue with reforms and still intends to join the EU in 2030. The Prime Minister denounced “blackmail” by Brussels, while the European Parliament called for new elections legislative. Georgia officially gained candidate status for EU membership in December 2023, but Brussels has since frozen the process, accusing the executive of a serious democratic backslide.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, at odds with the government but with limited powers, supported the protesters and participated in Thursday’s demonstration. On Friday night he estimated that “the resistance movement has begun.” “We will remain united until Georgia achieves its objectives: returning to the European path and obtaining new elections,” declared this former French diplomat who refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Parliament resulting from the October legislative elections.
France called on Friday to “respect the right to demonstrate peacefully” and stressed “supporting the European aspirations” of Georgia, “which must not be betrayed.” The Council of Europe condemned the “brutal repression of demonstrations” and expressed alarm at the government’s decision to suspend its negotiations with the EU. Amnesty International denounced the desire to “repress all dissent.”
Ukraine, which experienced a pro-European revolution in 2014 after the then authorities tried to suspend rapprochement with the EU, denounced a “use of force” and a “limitation of democratic processes” carried out “to please Moscow.”
Source: BFM TV
