Georgian officials reported 44 people hospitalized Sunday after a third night of protests against the government’s decision to suspend European Union membership talks, as tensions escalate in the former Soviet republic.
Twenty-seven protesters, 16 police officers, and one media worker required medical attention after demonstrators clashed with authorities outside parliament Saturday night. Protesters threw stones and launched fireworks while police responded with water cannons and tear gas. Demonstrators burned an effigy of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Russian-made billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned Sunday that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law,” while denying that Georgia had abandoned European integration. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail,” he said, following the European Parliament’s criticism of Georgia’s recent election as neither free nor fair.
President Salome Zourabichvili told The Associated Press Saturday that Georgia was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state under Georgian Dream’s control. “We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” she said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos expressed “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding” and urged authorities to respect peaceful protest rights. The opposition claims Russia helped rig October’s parliamentary election to keep Georgia in its orbit.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 but suspended accession talks and cut financial support after Georgia passed a “foreign influence” law seen as anti-democratic. Kobakhidze confirmed that Georgia’s U.S. ambassador David Zalkaliani has resigned amid the crisis.
Associated Press
