Police and protesters brutally clashed in Georgia after the country’s ruling party suspended negotiations to join the European Union until 2028, with an opposition leader calling for renewed protests on Friday.
Police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas late Thursday to disperse protesters who took to the streets following the announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Georgian Dream claimed victory in last month’s parliamentary election that the opposition in the South Caucasus nation dismissed as fraudulent and that has been condemned by European officials. The election on Oct. 26 was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s aspirations to join the European Union and the ruling party had indicated to voters that it would continue to seek membership of the bloc.
The interior ministry said it detained 43 people during the protests. In a statement, the ministry also said 32 police officers had been injured during the protest, which saw some demonstrators attempting to smash down metal barriers outside parliament.
Coalition for Change, the largest opposition party, said two of its female leaders had been attacked by police during the protest, with one suffering a broken hand and another a broken nose.
Nika Melia, a Coalition for Change leader, called for renewed protests on Friday.
“Today we have only one job — the service of the country, so that tomorrow we will have a country, and that our children will have a future,” Melia wrote on Facebook.
President takes to the streets
President Salome Zourabichvili said the government declared “war” on its own people and confronted riot police at the protest, asking them whether they served Russia or Georgia.
The Georgian president, who has a largely ceremonial role, previously said the ruling party rigged the election with the help of Russia, which previously ruled Georgia from Moscow when it was part of the Soviet Union.
She said the decision to suspend EU membership marked the “conclusion of the constitutional coup, which has been unfolding for several weeks.”
The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution — by vote of 444-72 with 84 abstentions — that condemned last month’s vote as neither free nor fair, representing yet another manifestation of the continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”
European election observers said October’s vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
EU lawmakers urged a rerun of the parliamentary vote within a year, run by an independent election administration and undertaken with international supervision. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.
Kremlin-like laws
The Georgian prime minister fired back, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”
“We must clearly show certain European politicians and bureaucrats, who are completely devoid of European values, that they must speak to Georgia with dignity, not through blackmail and insults,” said Kobakhidze.
Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June, after parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.
Thousands of people gathered to voice their dissatisfaction with the results of Georgia’s parliamentary election, due to a widespread belief of vote-rigging. Some protesters carried anti-Russian flags, as the governing Georgian Dream party has strengthened ties with Russia.
EU envoy to Tbilisi Pawel Herczynski described the decision to freeze the accession talks as “very regrettable” and “heartbreaking.”
Georgia’s ambassador to South Korea, in a post on Facebook, appeared to suggest he opposed the accession freeze, while Tbilisi’s envoy to Bulgaria said on X that he had resigned over the talks’ suspension.
Three Tbilisi universities said they were suspending studies amid the unrest, while a group of business associations, including the U.S., EU, and German chambers of commerce said they opposed freezing talks in a joint statement.